Palm Springs new vacation rental ordinance in effect Jan. 13th, petitioned in an effort to repeal

A group called Protect Our Neighborhoods said there are more than 2,000 vacation homes in Palm Springs. It’s an issue some residents say is taking away from their sense of community.

“Based on the transient occupant tax, this is a $60 million industry; $60 million they are making off of residential neighborhoods. This is unheard of,” said Stephen Rose with Protect Our Neighborhoods.

The city council approved an ordinance in December that limits rental owners to one permit per person with up to 32 short-term rentals per year.

This makes it difficult for investors to buy and rent multiple homes as vacation properties within city limits.

The limitation sparked one group, Citizens for a Better Palm Springs, to petition to repeal the ordinance before it takes effect on Jan. 13.

The group’s name suggests it is from Palm Springs, but paperwork filed with the city lists a mailing address in Palm Desert with mailing addresses for the treasurer and principal officer in San Diego.

Palm Springs city council member J.R. Roberts said the group is backed by the vacation rental industry.

“This organization or this name that’s being put forward is really just HomeAway VRBO, which is a multi-biliion dollar corporation out of San Diego, and they are spending thousands and thousands of dollars collecting signatures because they didn’t have the local support to do this,” Roberts said.

Some vacation rental owners chose not to go on camera but said they signed the petition because they felt the new ordinance wasn’t in their favor.

One owner who did speak with us said he’s on the fence.

“I liked the old ordinance. The problem I see with repealing the ordinance is that it’s not going to solve a lot of the real problems and that would probably create a groundswell of interest for an outright ban,” Keith Crosley said.

While vacation rentals have been a hot issue within city limits, council members and renters say Palm Springs is one of the leading cities in California that avoided a ban.

Roberts said if the group collects about 2,200 signatures, the ordinance would be put on hold until the next election.