From:Edward Henry
To:Ed Waage; Mary Ann Reiss; Marcia Guthrie; Scott Newton; Stacy Inman; City Council Subject:Agenda Itrem 12.A of City Council meeting May 2, 2023 Date:Monday, May 1, 2023 3:00:21 PM
External Email
May 1, 2023
RE: Agenda item 12.A of the City Council meeting May 2, 2023 To the City Council,
I have read and studied the staff report on the proposed new STR regulations for Pismo Beach. There are many improvements in the new proposal and I applaud the Task Force for coming up with a number of their recommendations. There remains, however, great concern among many Pismo Beach residents regarding these new proposals.
The one flaw that is quite apparent to our neighborhood is the lack of direction or clarity on exactly how the City will be able to enforce the primary residency requirement. Our street is very familiar with this problem since we have been dealing with an illegal STR on our street for 18 months now with still no resolution. There is a great financial incentive for people to lie on their applications in order to obtain a permit. Once that permit is granted, the mechanism for enforcement is unclear. We have an excellent Code Enforcement officer but to my understanding, there is only one for the entire City. The workload to monitor and enforce these new proposed revisions has the potential to greatly overload this department.
It is not fair for neighborhood residents to be forced to be the ones who have to gather the information to provide to the City for enforcement. This area is the Achilles heel of the new proposed ordinance. It has the potential for significant abuse.
The second area of major concern that has been identified is that the Staff report neglected to study, consider, analyze, and report on two other similar coastal cities and how they have very recently handled the STR problem. The subject is very dynamic, and all approaches should be analyzed and discussed
Santa Monica prohibits non-hosted STRs completely and only allows home sharing where the host must be onsite. This could be a model for Pismo Beach.
Half Moon Bay allows STRs but has restricted them to primary residences only and only for 60 days per year. This could also be a model for Pismo Beach. Both of these cities are in the Coastal Zone and their plans have been approved by the Coastal Commission. They are very similar to Pismo Beach with many hotels, trailer parks, and campground facilities for visitors to enjoy.
https://www.hmbreview.com/news/coastal-commission-hmb-agree-on-short-term-rental- limit/article_0bddbb81-832f-525e-a482-072068ffb992.html The City should direct Staff to study these two examples and report their findings back to the City Council before passing any new ordinances. This is too important of a decision for the future of Pismo Beach If we do not get this right this time. We have the potential to say goodbye to previously residential neighborhoods in Pismo Beach. Most residents in these neighborhoods bought and/or built their homes in areas that were designated as long-term residential and not short term rental areas. We love our tourists and visitors in Pismo Beach, but we also need to protect our long term residential neighborhoods.
There needs to be further study and discussion of these items. I urge the City Council to delay any decision on this new ordinance until Staff studies and reports on the approaches Santa Monica and Half Moon Bay have taken.
Respectfully,
Edward Henry
117 N. Silver Shoals Dr.
Pismo Beach
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