City leaders intend to ease restrictions over Palm Springs vacation rental ordinance

UPDATE: 7:11 p.m.

Palm Springs city leaders, vacation rental professionals and neighborhood leaders stood in front of residents Wednesday morning, announcing a new vacation rental ordinance up for vote for a meeting Wednesday night, along with repealing the previous ordinance.

After holding nearly two dozen meetings with industry professionals and residents, city leaders said the new law will hope to address concerns from both sides, while keeping neighborhoods safe.

“This allows us to immediately start enforcing, immediately start addressing the concerns that neighbors have and preventing people from buying multiple vacation rentals,” Palm Springs City Councilman Geoff Kors said.

Kors and Palm Springs City Councilman J.R. Roberts said changes to the ordinance include grandfathering all current rental permits, raising the number of contracts from 32 to 36 a year ( four of those being for summer months only), only one car per bedroom and all guests must be greeted by a person, not a lockbox.

While the ordinance has received endorsements from both industry professionals and neighborhood groups, including ONE-PS, Palm Springs resident Michael Ziskind said groups like ‘Protect our Neighborhoods’ said the new law is not the answer.

“There still are no caps as to how many is enough in Palm Springs,” Ziskind said. “Number two, they added the number of allowable contracts per year to run your house as a motel. It keeps going up, and up and up.”

But city leaders said they’re open to working with residents.

“The only way to know if we’re going to be successful is by giving it a try,” Roberts said.

While others hope to see more public input.

“Let the citizens of Palm Springs finally decide themselves what they want to see, and what they don’t want to see,” Ziskind said. “We’re tired of having the industry dictate the parameters of the discussion.”

Both Kors and Roberts said another change in the new ordinance includes managers and homeowners attending yearly educational training.

They also said if the ordinance is passed, they will hold monthly meetings with the public to hear their input on the laws.

Ziskind said ‘Protect our Neighborhoods’ is exploring legal options regarding this ordinance.

Stay with KESQ and CBS Local 2 both on-air and online for the latest on this new vacation rental ordinance.

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ORIGINAL STORY: 1:02 p.m.

Palm Springs city leaders announced Wednesday morning their intention of withdrawing a former vacation rental ordinance to vote for a new ordinance that focuses on protecting residents and enforcement. KESQ and CBS Local 2’s Zak Dahlheimer was at the news conference Wednesday morning to learn all the new details.

He’ll have live reports from City Hall on KESQ News Channel 3 at 12 p.m. and 12 :30 p.m.

City officials said changes from the previous ordinance will include:

Allow grandfathering of all existing permits Increasing the number of contracts per year from 32 to 36 (Four to be used during summer only) Managers and homeowners needing to go through yearly educational training 1 car per bedroom Requiring guests to be met in person, and not a lockbox

City council members Geoff Kors and J.R. Roberts say they’ve had more than 22 meetings with the general public and industry professionals. They say local vacation industry professionals endorse this new proposed ordinance.

They say ‘One Palm Springs’ endorses the proposed ordinance. Members with the group, ‘Protect our Neighborhoods’ say they’re not for the new proposed ordinance, and say they are looking into legal actions.

Vacation Rental Ordinance Meeting Wednesday morning:

An amended vacation rental ordinance is being considered Wednesday by the Palm Springs City Council after a referendum forced the pending rescission of the original ordinance, which placed numerous restrictions on local rental owners.

The council’s proposed “interim urgency ordinance” would grant vacation rental owners four extra contracts during the summer months, allow those with permits issued prior to Jan. 10 to retain multiple rental
properties, and require rental owners to undergo periodic testing and training to ensure knowledge of the regulations.

The amended ordinance is scheduled for introduction at the council’s meeting Wednesday night, along with a vote to rescind the original measure. The amended ordinance requires a four-fifths council vote to pass.

City officials also scheduled a news conference on the ordinance Wednesday morning featuring vacation rental subcommittee members Geoff Kors and J.R. Roberts, along with members of the local vacation rental industry.

The council adopted the original ordinance in December 2016 in a bid to stem the booming growth of the vacation rental industry. City officials said the explosion of rental properties over the past decade reduced local affordable housing and led to an increase in noise violations, disorderly conduct, traffic congestion, vandalism and illegal parking.

The ordinance limited how many properties an individual could own within the city and how many times those properties could be rented out annually.

Opposition to the ordinance was swift, with a referendum by Citizens For A Better Palm Springs gaining enough signatures to force the city to repeal the ordinance or submit it to the voters in a future ballot measure.

However, according to a city staff report, officials say the city will not have to submit the ordinance to voters.

“Although the total number of valid signatures was more than 10 percent of the city’s voters, the total number was less than 15 percent of such voters and therefore the council is not required to submit the ordinance to the voters at a special election,” the report reads. “Nevertheless, the council has the discretion, but not the obligation, to submit the matter to the voters at a special election.”