REPORT: |
First Assistant County Attorney Geri Bonzon-Keenen read the foregoing proposed ordinance into the record. She apprised the Board that agenda item 11A6 was the corresponding resolution and implementing order that accompanied this ordinance.
Commissioner Heyman noted that she was concerned that having a house on constant rental rotation in a neighborhood would remove consistency and accountability. She pointed out that to her surprise, Air B&B had entered into an agreement with a developer to not lease out a unit on Air B&B for 180 days per year. Commissioner Heyman noted that this was consistent with the change in Item 7A Supplement regarding responsible parties, and a person could not rent their house out for at least 180 days, so it would not be constantly rented out.
Commissioner Sosa noted that many of her neighbors were very concerned about Air B&B. She pointed out that it was not only Air B&B, as several short term rental apps existed. Commissioner Sosa commented that every company offering this service should pay taxes, retroactively from the time Air B&B started paying taxes, noting if this type of service was not regulated, it could result in every street having short term rentals with no regulations. She stated that this type of regulation was establishing an order to protect the residential areas of the communities. Commissioner Sosa instructed the Administration to treat all short term rental companies in the same manner; therefore, if one paid taxes on the rentals, the others must pay too.
Assistant County Attorney James Kirtley read the following amendments into the record:
-on handwritten page 11, to add at the end of the preamble to section (C) shall be amended to clarify that the responsible party may offer a vacation rental immediately upon applying for the Certificate of Use (CU).
-on handwritten page 11, to add after the first sentence of subsection (C) (1) shall be amended to permit peer-to-peer or platform entity to submit CU applications on behalf of responsible parties, upon entering into an agreement with the county.
-on handwritten page 15, in the second sentence of subsection (D) (1) (B) and its subparts beginning with the word “compliance” shall be deleted and replaced with new language, to clarify that the platform entities shall not be held jointly and severally liable upon certain conditions.
-on handwritten page 21, additional language will be added at the end of subsection E 3 to clarify that the platform entity shall not be held jointly and severally liable nor vicariously liable where the platform does not itself commit a violation of the ordinance and complies with the above referenced new language. |