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Home My Public Portal AboutPublic Comment Jeff Shellito Darrah Johnston From: Town of Truckee, CA <webmaster@townoftruckee.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 2, 2020 10:49 AM To: Truckee; Hilary Hobbs Subject: *NEW SUBMISSION* Public Comment Form for Short-Term Vacation Rental Ordinance and Permit Program Public Comment Form for Short-Term Vacation Rental Ordinance and Permit Program Submission#: 520265 IP Address: 98.255.73.209 Submission Date: 09/02/2020 10:48 Survey Time: 2 minutes, 35 seconds You have a new online form submission. Note: all answers displaying"*****" are marked as sensitive and must be viewed after your login. Name Jeff Shellito Email jshelIito@comcast.net Phone (optional) Public Comment I support adoption of the draft STIR ordinance for the reasons outlined in my attachment lf your comment exceeds 2000 characters, please use the attachment function below to attach your comment in a separate document. Attachment Truckee STIR ordinance support letter.docx Please ensure that you enter your email address in the box below and click the SUBMIT button to receive a copy of your submitted responses for Public Comment. Thank you, Town of Truckee This is an automated message generated by the Vision Content Management SystemTM.Please do not reply directly to this email. 1 I am writing you in strong support of the draft STIR ordinance, and urge the Truckee town council to expeditiously adopt it without delay or weakening amendments. Please do not exempt Tahoe Donner from its provisions. The ordinance is long overdue and greatly needed. As Truckee homeowners in Tahoe Donner for the past 7 years,this summer my wife and I have experienced a definite upswing in short-term rentals (STRs)throughout our community. There are currently 1,043 STIR properties registered with the Town of Truckee and operating in Tahoe Donner, representing more than one-half of the total number of short-term rentals within the city limits. But these STIRS represent only about 16% of the total number of houses and condos within Tahoe Donner which totals 6,500 properties. Like us, more than 80% of TD homeowners do not rent out our homes on a short-term basis. We generally experienced few problems with short-term tenants who occupy these rental properties on our own street (Heidi). However,there 1-2 homes that have become proverbial "party houses" rented virtually every weekend in July and August by large groups, routinely causing excessive noise late at night, lighting, and parking problems for our neighborhood. Another common problem caused by tenants throughout TD is inappropriate disposal of household garbage and recycling items in unsecured "bear boxes," or left entirely outside the bear boxes in plastic barrels on the street. The contents become quickly strewn on the house driveway and street by animals. The STIR owners or their management companies are doing a poor job educating and informing the commercial renters occupying these properties. Earlier this summer we witnessed and spoke to two extended families renting a house on Norse Ave., overlooking the TD golf course which is closed this summer for greens replacement and other renovations. Their children were using the fairways and golf tee boxes for mountain biking. Others in their group were flying a drone over the fairway(drones are illegal in TD), and their family dog was romping and biting the golf course sprinkler system to everyone's amusement. The two families were having an evening Happy Hour cocktail party on the golf course. I told the father of one of the families that the course was closed, but I did not want to provoke a confrontation. When I got home, I filed an email complaint with the TD Compliance office, plus sent them photos and video clips I had taken with my iPhone. I don't know if the renters or the STIR owner was ever cited for the multiple violations that occurred.The GM of Tahoe Donner has since increased staff patrols of the course after business hours and on weekends, plus established a separate 24/7 telephone hotline for TD homeowners to report complaints. Although the Tahoe Donner Association generally maintains a compliance "hot line" and email systems for reporting nuisance and CC&R violations caused by owner-occupied houses and STIR properties, they have been ineffectual in deterring the increased number of incidents this summer. Imposition of a fine of the owner of the STIR is the only tool our Homeowner Association has to address egregious nuisance violations. But fines can be appealed by the owner to Covenants Committee plus the TD Board of Directors, resulting in a reduction or total waiver. In the case of the larger"party houses," some owners consider TD's fines as a "cost of doing business," because of the huge amounts of revenue they make from renting their properties. It is unclear whether Tahoe Donner can still put a lien on the house when an STIR owner fails to pay a fine for nuisance or CC&R violation. For all these reasons, my wife and I strongly support adoption of the draft STIR ordinance. We know it is modeled somewhat after the Placer County ordinance now operative for STIR properties along the North and West Shores of Lake Tahoe. It appears to be working well. One of the strongest elements of the proposed ordinance will be creation of an STIR licensing system and prescribed standards of conduct for STIR tenants and owners. Licensing should help curtail the pervasive nuisance problems we are experiencing in Tahoe Donner by hopefully deterring them and ensuring improved oversight and management of STIR properties by their owners or firms they contract to manage them. It is not our goal or objective to put anyone out of the STIR business, but to make them better neighbors for the rest of us. Thank you, Jeff Shellito/Christine Madden 13582 Heidi Way Truckee, CA 96161