During their annual goal setting session in January 2019, the City Council developed a goal for staff to provide an update on short-term vacation rental (STVR) regulation and enforcement efforts. Staff prepared an update, which was presented to Council at study session on June 12, 2019. At that meeting, Council heard from many residents of Cathedral City who expressed concern that existing STVR regulations are not working or are not being adequately enforced and that the proliferation of STVR homes is negatively affecting their quality of life. As a result, Council directed staff to prepare an ordinance for consideration implementing a moratorium on the issuance of new STVR permits. An interim urgency ordinance establishing a 45-day moratorium on new STVR permits was approved by Council on June 26, 2019. The ordinance excluded from the moratorium HOA neighborhoods that expressly allow STVR permits and allowed the renewal of then existing STVR permits. On July 24, 2019, prior to expiration of the initial 45-day moratorium, Council approved a new moratorium, with the same conditions and exclusions as the original, but with no expiration date.
During this same period of time, the City Manager appointed an Ad-Hoc task force to study issues related to STVR homes in neighborhoods and develop a set of recommendations to address the problems identified with a target date for completion of their tasks of early 2020. Members of the task force are:
Ed Emond-Worline, Landau Homes resident
Teri Hargreaves, Panorama resident
Pattie Hagedorn, Panorama resident
Bob Ohda, La Pasada resident
Boris Stark, STVR Management
Chris Harami, Cove resident and STVR owner
Karyn McQueen, STVR owner
Ryan Dame, padzu.com
Amanda Hoffmann, STVR Management
Michelle Van Sickle, Date Palm CC resident
Conrad Corral, Cove resident
John Aguilar, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council representative
Staff support to the task force is being provided by:
Charlie McClendon, City Manager
Robert Rodriguez, Planning and Building Director
Tami Scott, Administrative Services Director
Dane Dickson, Police Commander
Kevin Biersack, Accounting Manager
Cindy Hansen, Licensing Manager
The first meeting of the task force was held on July 15, 2019. After introductions the members of the task force discussed specific areas where research was needed and decided to divide into three working groups for further study, Regulations, Enforcement and Density.
During late July and early August, the working groups each met, and the entire task force held their second meeting on August 12, 2019. Each of the working groups provided an update to the task force and the task force discussed ways to accommodate public input to the group. It was decided to develop a survey to be mailed to residents who live close to a STVR and to hold two public meetings to receive comments from the community. A draft survey was then developed and sent to all task force members and the working groups met again in late August and early September.
During the full task force meeting on September 9, the survey format and language were approved, and updates were received from all the working groups. Dates and locations were also approved for the two public meetings, October 1 at 6:00 pm at the library and October 19 at 10:00 am at City Hall.
The first public meeting on October 1 at the library was held as scheduled and was very well attended with probably more than 75 people in attendance and about 35 speakers. All comments made were noted and shared with the task force members. The second meeting was held on October 19 in the Council Chambers with about 80 people in attendance and approximately 40 speakers.
In addition to the items previously noted from the September 9 task force meeting, some interim recommendations were developed by the task force for consideration by Council for immediate implementation. The criteria for consideration of interim recommendations were that they address issues of concern to the residents, they can be implemented without the need for ordinance amendments and that they can be implemented for a moderate cost as fee changes will not be implemented, if any, until the Council considers the final task force report. The following suggestions were submitted by the task force for Council consideration:
- Improved screening of on-line advertisements for STVR units and immediate issuance of citations for violations. This is an enforcement shortfall that seems to really irritate neighborhood residents. The proposal is to contract with a firm through a short-term contract for a pilot program. The contractor would scour adds looking for violations of the existing ordinance, which would include ads without the license number, ads for occupancy that exceeds occupancy allowed by the code and advertising and operating without a STVR permit (illegal operations). Code enforcement would then, using data supplied by the contractor, issue citations. Neighbors who also identify what they believe to be advertisements that violate the code could forward items they have identified to the contractor for verification. Staff has talked to two groups that have submitted proposals for consideration and a contract will be awarded by the end of October.
- Use of a private security service on a scheduled or on-call basis to respond immediately to hot line calls. Another enforcement lapse that really upsets neighbors is the lack of resources to immediately investigate calls to the hotline and issue citations in a timely manner. The task force suggested that a short-term contract be issued to provide coverage during peak hours on a scheduled or on-call basis. This would also help create a more accurate record for identifying repeat violators, which would provide important information that can be considered as permits are up for renewal. Staff has identified a security services contract awarded by another city and will develop a cooperative purchasing agreement that will allow this service to begin in the next few weeks.
The task force will continue to meet over the upcoming months with the goal of providing a comprehensive set of recommendations to the City Council by sometime in the early part of 2020.
