Editor: We reprint the following open letter to the Mayor and San Diego City Council by the OB Town Council Board of Directors on the issue of short term vacation rentals, originally published on the OBTC website on August 17, 2016.
Honorable Mayor Kevin Faulconer
Honorable Members of the San Diego City Council
RE: Short Term Vacation Rentals
Dear Mayor Faulconer and City Councilmembers:
The object of the Ocean Beach Town Council (OBTC) is to express the will and represent the welfare of the OB community. The OBTC has hosted and held public meetings over the past year to gather community input as it relates to vacation rentals.
On February 9th 2016, the OBTC sent a letter to Councilmember Lori Zapf to formally respond to her short-term vacation rental (STVR) memorandum and to provide feedback from Ocean Beach on what a new STVR ordinance should encompass to protect our quality of life and community.
The City of San Diego has not yet adopted a new ordinance to resolve STVRs and resultant impacts to our communities.
Until STVRs are formally addressed by the City Council and the Mayor with a new ordinance and/or revisions to San Diego’s municipal code, the OBTC is in full support of the position of Save San Diego Neighborhoods as stated:
Enforce the existing Municipal Code, which makes STVR unlawful in all San Diego residential zones, to rid our communities of absentee-owner commercial mini-hotels.
Amend the Municipal Code to allow true “home-sharing” (room rentals with owners present) and home-swapping with some restrictions.
Create and implement effective enforcement policies to support those positions.
Save San Diego Neighborhoods is requesting the City of San Diego to enforce its current municipal code as it relates to Visitor Accommodations which prohibits Short Term Vacation Rentals within residential neighborhoods.
We call upon Mayor Faulconer to enforce the current Municipal Code until this matter is resolved legislatively by our City Council.
We represent hundreds of OBTC members of in the zip code of 92107. We are committed to the betterment of our community, and the OBTC looks forward to working with your office and staff on addressing this issue.
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors of the Ocean Beach Town Council
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Well written and totally agree. Thank you to OBTC for clearly addressing this issue.