La Quinta residents, let's take our city back and crack down on short-term rentals
Most of us have been reading a lot lately about “short-term vacation rental" (STVR) problems in cities up and down our valley and beyond. In La Quinta, we of Neighbors for Neighborhoods LQ have been actively seeking changes to our city’s STVR policy. Our mission is to stop the commercial exploitation of our residential communities and restore the residents’ quality of life and safety, which have been severely eroded.
On Nov. 3, we let the city council know of our intent to circulate a petition which would restrict non-hosted rentals in residential zones to a minimum of 30 days. That would reverse the conversion of residential homes into commercial businesses. The initiative will stimulate the development of the nine designated tourist commercial zones in La Quinta, i.e., the new development at Silver Rock.
Despite hundreds of emails, phone calls and public testimony, the council has preferred a path of STVR “co-existence” within neighborhoods zoned residential. With this policy, the city continues to earn tax revenues from STVRs and the owners continue to profit. As for the residents, especially those living close to a STVR, they are mostly ignored. Life is little improved.
In the spirit of “co-existence,” the city council enacted change ordinances to increase code enforcement in the form of higher permitting fees, fines for violations, three strikes you're out.
Later, the city added a ban on new STVR permits extending the year-old moratorium indefinitely. Unfortunately, these have been shown to only marginally reduce the number of citations, but the problems cannot be eliminated by these measures unless the ban includes all existing STVRs.
Owners of homes causing disturbances may be cited and fined, but it’s not about enforcement. Over 75% of residents with issues will not call the city hotline. These concerns ae more than than code enforcement can address: anxiety, stress, loss of sleep and not feeling safe.
Residents whose neighborhoods are invaded by short-term rentals still live in the apprehension and the anguish of not knowing when strangers are going to show up and what they might do.
"What’s happening to my town?" they think. "Are we not welcome anymore? Should we consider moving again?"
Residents/neighbors are at the mercy of the unknown and the uncontrollable. Their space is violated. Their quality of life gone.
The city staff provided a report on Dec. 7, which shows a decrease in residential community STVRs due to attrition and a ban on new permits. Despite permits being down 16%, the saturation level in the Cove, North La Quinta and PGA West is at about 8%, and this does not include STVRs operating without a permit.
Rancho Mirage was at a 1.7% saturation level when their city council decided the impact on their residents was too oppressive and stopped permitting STVRs in residential neighborhoods. La Quinta would have to shed almost 700 more permits to reach the same levels of Rancho Mirage when they made this decision.
To protect La Quinta neighborhoods (your neighborhoods), the ballot initiative to limit non-hosted rentals to tourist commercial zones must be approved.
Please sign the petition. It’s your life we’re talking about. What town do you want to live in?
Donald Nimis lives in La Quinta. Email him at donald@neighborsforneighborhoodslq.org.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: La Quinta residents, let's take our city back from short-term rentals
