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Home My Public Portal AboutPublic Comment Valerie Brinker Darrah Johnston From: Town of Truckee, CA <webmaster@townoftruckee.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2020 12:14 PM 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#: 529996 IP Address: 47.208.188.160 Submission Date: 09/08/2020 12:13 Survey Time: 2 minutes, 57 seconds You have a new online form submission. Note: all answers displaying"*****" are marked as sensitive and must be viewed after your login. Name Valerie Brinker Email designsbyvalb@gmail.com Phone (optional) Public Comment Please see attached document. lf your comment exceeds 2000 characters, please use the attachment function below to attach your comment in a separate document. Attachment Draft Ordinance Public comment.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 Honorable Mayor and Town Council Members, As a both a full-time resident&an STIR operator of my full-time residence, I do agree that STIR rental regs are long past due in the Town for the health, safely and quiet enjoyment of residents and visitors alike. As the Town creates new legislation, I would like to proceed cautiously in making sure that the new regs are VERY CLEAR & don't contradict existing Code. In the past, the Town has defined the rental of a room (&an entire home for that matter) occupied by a full-time resident as a "Bed and Breakfast Inn" & has collected TOT back taxes (from myself and others) based on this interpreted definition. Bed & Breakfasts are exempted in this new code per 5.02.030 B.; does this mean that the rental of one room (permitted use under Bed & Breakfast per 18.58.070 A.1.)will not have to comply with the STIR permit program? How about the full-time owner of a whole-house rental? I feel that if the owner is on-site, this is a reasonable exemption to the new STIR laws and that the definition should be clarified in the rules, not just in referencing Title 18. Guests are monitored by nature of the host being on-site full-time. I don't think room rentals are part of the issues that have encouraged the fast-tracking of these proposed STIR regulations. Regardless,the Best and Breakfast situation really should be clarified and allow for the appropriate corresponding public comment BEFORE proceeding to permanent rules. I also don't feel that the 2-night minimum is necessary,fair or prudent. For whole-house rentals, 1-night bookings are likely very rare as it is. I have many STIR host contacts and NONE of which currently allow for one-night stays in a whole-house. Does the Town have evidence that 1-night stays are a problem or is this just anecdotal, at best? For a room with host on-site (again,this may already be exempt by nature of it being considered a permitted "bed & breakfast"; please clarify),the 2-night minimum will overwhelmingly hurt a lot of locals who rent out a room to help make ends meet. Many of these locals are not in a position to just "get a roommate". Some of these locals have been impacted by the pandemic&will continue to be impacted as the winter arrives & restaurants can't have adequate indoor dining and ski resorts have to limit skiers. How about when 1-80 closes during big storms? I always have guests seeking an affordable place to stay during a storm so as to not get stuck in gridlock or contribute to the dangers on the road. There certainly are not enough hotel rooms to accommodate guests in these emergency instances for last-minute 1-night stays. Will we see more CO deaths with these travelers trying to sleep in their vehicles?Or more accidents on the road as 1-night guests travel in inclement weather to other areas for affordable lodging? I also am not seeing any nearby municipalities having a 2-night minimum &question how the Town will effectively police it. Are there Towns and Counties nearby where this rule has been warranted? Additionally, I think that the 2-night minimum will have a negative affect on businesses mid-week and in the shoulder season. As a host of 5 years, this is when most of my 1-night bookings occur(because I and many hosts already have 2-night minimums on weekends and off-peak times). We have a TBID in place that literally gives out$100 cash to guests who book midweek or off-peak times. This sounds quite hypocritical to me that a TBID would spend money to create "heads in beds" and then there would be a limit on 1-night stays that largely occur off-peak. I have many guests who simply would not come up and spend money in Truckee if they had to spend $250-300 a night or stay in a hostel-type situation. I feel that Truckee businesses and residents will lose much-needed revenue (not to mention TOT revenue) because of this 2-night minimum and that the rule won't really have any measurable positive impact. Thank you for your time and consideration in reviewing the proposed ordinances and the numerous comments from the community. Thank you, Valerie Brinker