HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-12-2013 ac doyle ss1Goodwin, Heather
From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
AnthonyJ, Mejia I City Clerk
City of San Luis Obispo
990 Palm Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
tel | 805.781.71O2
Mejia, Anthony
Monday, November 04,20L3 5:27 PM
Goodwin, Heather
FW: Santa Barbara short term rentals
Þ üri" É:Ï \/[:L)
NO\/ 0 5 2013
5::[-{.)
r - ï';:\"1i ,i i ¡Ct Fl
AGENDA
CORRESPONDENCE
-----Origina I Message-----
From: Johnson, Derek
Sent: Monday, November 04,2OI3 9:48 AM
To: Mejia, Anthony
Subject: FW: Santa Barbara short term rentals
FYl, for 1,I/72
-----Origina I Message-----
From: Catherine Doyle Imailto:cnesslo@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, November 03,201310:02 PM
To: Johnson, Derek
Subject: Santa Barbara short term rentals
Hi Derek
With your late night response to my email I can only imagine how overwhelmed you must be with all this information
and work regarding the short term rentals in SLO. Being a friend of some city councilmen in Santa Barbara, it was
recommended to me to speak with the finance director, Bob Samario, to get a better understanding of how the system
works for them. I thought I would pass this information along to you in hopes that it may be helpful in resolving our
conundrum.
So....Santa Barbara zoning laws are in place to not allow short term rentals in residential areas. But because the city saw
the need for such rentals and the revenue they generate, the city chose to overlook the ordinance. They chose instead
tohaveeveryonebecompliantwithabusinesslicenseandpaytheTOT'S. ThelawisenforcedONLYifthereisaspecific
complaint, The increase in revenue from vacation rentals for the city was substantial.,.,.before compliance $0 and after
compliance in 2013, 5711,000.
The rules for compliance were posted online allowing a certain time period for everyone to obtain their business license
and set up paying the taxes. The taxes must be kept in a separate bank account and self reported monthly. Eventually
the audit system used by the city for the hotels will be applied to short term rentals to prevent any dishonesty. The
rules for making a specific complaint were also posted online. Any complaint goes directly to the zoning enforcement
staff.
1
An amendment to our existing ordinance to include the specificity regulation for a complaint would eliminate the threat
to the city of SLO from any citizen who simply has a wide spread general complaint about the law not being enforced. I
know this is a concern for you here.
I hope this information may help you. Both Grant House, city councilman, and Bob Samario, Finance Directer, in SB are
willing to share any information with you regarding their policy.
Thanks again for all your diligent work with this project.
C. Doyle
2