HomeMy Public PortalAboutPublic Comment Michael Golden Darrah Johnston
From: Hilary Hobbs
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2020 10:47 AM
To: Truckee
Subject: FW: Proposed Short Term Rental Policy
Hilary Hobbs
Management Analyst
Town of Truckee
hhobbs@townoftruckee.com
cell: (530)414-1967
From: Michael Golden <tahoelocal@ltol.com>
Sent: Monday,August 31, 2020 10:47 AM
To: Hilary Hobbs<HHobbs@townoftruckee.com>
Subject: Proposed Short Term Rental Policy
This is a general comment on this matter, but it needs to be stated and considered as the Town discusses this matter. It
should be noted that I am a 35 year full time resident of Truckee, so my perspective on this matter truly warrants
consideration based on what I have seen since moving here in 1985.
Short Term Rentals (STR's) have turned housing units into hotel & motel accommodations. If hotels & motels were
proposed on properties zoned for single family housing, the Town of Truckee would deny any such requests. However,
the Town permits without restriction or condition the use of single family housing units as STR's, which are transient in
nature and similar to a use as a hotel/motel. It is simply unacceptable. The negative impact upon the properties used as
STR's is significant. Trash, noise, traffic, late night parties, intoxication, overflow parking and general nuisance are just a
few of the consequences of these STR's.
Sadly, one of the other problems with STR's is that by using these properties as lodging, it takes rental units off the
market for seasonal or year round use. A property owner can get far more money out of a nightly rental or weekend rental
on a recurring basis versus a seasonal rental, summer or winter. While I appreciate the economic benefit of this situation
to a property owner, the detriment to our community is incalculable. Our town has transformed as a result of the limited
number of rental properties available to residents as a result of STR's. Many people who work here now commute from
out of the area (Reno in particular), and by having so few available housing units for rent, the nature of our community has
been gutted.
Every community needs long term rental units. Police officers, school teachers, fire fighters, grocery clerks, bankers,
nurses, lawyers and others all require housing. If our town's rental properties have been converted to predominantly
STR's, we lose our sense of community when those who work amongst us do not have housing options available to
them. By permitting long term rental properties to become lodging units, we have taken available housing stock off the
market for those that need it most.
The AirBnB platform can easily be blamed as the root cause of these problems. This platform was designed as a house
sharing concept, when an owner of a property had a vacant room and was willing to share, or perhaps the owner was
gone for a weekend and was willing to let someone use the house as a getaway in their absence. The unintended
consequence of this platform is that our housing stock locally, which is predominantly second homeowners, suddenly
became lodging units as opposed to single family homes.
It should be noted that I am a staunch property rights advocate, and I have worked in real estate my entire life. I remain
committed to property rights, but the STIR model is circumventing zoning in this community and creating negative
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consequences beyond comprehension. I would encourage the Town of Truckee to take the most aggressive approach to
this proposed ordinance to reign in the "hotel housing" that has evolved as a result of STR's.
Respectfully,
Michael Golden
tahoelocala-Itol.com
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