With a standing-room-only crowd composed largely of vacation-rental advocates, La Jolla Community Planning Association voted 7-3-1 to establish a permit fee to exclusively fund enforcement of existing regulations regarding short-term vacation rentals.
That successful motion, after substantial public testimony and trustee debate, was made at the advisory group’s Nov. 6 meeting. The vote followed unsuccessful motions brought by the group, which makes land-use recommendations to the city and which asked trustees to sanction changes to vacation rental scenarios recommended by a group subcommittee after months of stakeholder meetings.
The planning association’s ad hoc committee on rentals recommended improving real-time police response to citizen complaints about problematic homes by:
• Substantially increasing fines for the Community Assisted Party Program (CAPP), which allows troublesome party homes to be essentially placed on probation with fines for repeat offenders;
• Requiring property owners of CAPP’d homes to place a substantial security deposit in escrow with the city, to be forfeited with subsequent violations;
• Allowing neighbor/resident documentation of violations to be sufficient to issue/warrant a CAPP violation;
• Encouraging the city to develop/implement a proactive community education/outreach program regarding CAPP; and
• Requiring two violations, within 90 days, to place a property into a CAPP classification.
Planning group trustee Helen Boyden, who chaired the group’s ad hoc committee on vacation rentals, said she was “sympathetic with people that live next to a noisy property which is a continual bother.” But she said anything done to curb problematic rentals “needs to be enforceable.
“I support a realistic, permanent system with fees returning for enforcement,” Boyden said.
Bird Rock resident Mike Costello, an outspoken proponent of greater regulation of vacation rentals, said, “We need to separate commercial from residential so we can have peace at home.
“CAPP needs to be strengthened, and a permit process for short-term vacation rentals makes some sense,” Costello added.
Trustee Fran Zimmerman said she felt the ad hoc committee’s recommendations were too numerous to be dealt with all at once. She said she favored the notion of establishing a formal code of conduct for renters as well as requiring rental properties to have a contact person available 24/7 to deal with neighbors’ problems or complaints.
“I see both sides,” said planning association trustee and Realtor Patrick Ahern. “We do have our inalienable rights to liberty and estate. But property owners also have the right of quiet to enjoy their property, and that is incumbent upon the landlord to provide.”
Association chair Joe LaCava thanked the ad hoc committee for its efforts on negotiating with stakeholders on vacation rentals. LaCava said he felt much of the problem with policing troublesome homes stemmed from “the city failing to have sufficient resources to do enforcement,” adding, “We can’t enforce the rules and regulations we have on the books right now.”
En otra acción:
• A continual flap over a longstanding election dispute took an unexpected turn as architect Michael Morton turned down a compromise solution that would have established a 19th trustee seat for him to fill until April 1, 2015. In brief comments, Morton said he was unwilling to serve such an abbreviated term. Also, trustee Rob Whittemore, who had opposed the compromise solution worked out between the city and the planning association, officially resigned from the group. Whittemore’s seat will be up for election in March of 2015.
• Hilary Nemchik, new representative for state Sen. Marty Block and the 39tth Senate District, introduced herself to the group.
• UCSD planner Anu Delouri said the university is hosting a community open house Wednesday, Nov. 19 from 4 to 7 p.m. in Forum Hall in University Town Center about the Wells Fargo Bank.
