For more than a decade, the Florida Legislature has been unsuccessful in finding a fair balance in regulating short-term vacation rentals in the Sunshine State. Is the year when a breakthrough finally happens?
That remains unclear as the latest attempt (SB 714) advanced in a Senate committee Tuesday — a measure that local government officials say takes away some of the tools that they now have but which bill supporters say actually boosts the tools at their disposal.
The bill, sponsored by Pinellas County Republican Nick DiCeglie, who lives in Indian Rocks Beach, is depicted by many (including in a Phoenix story earlier this year) as “Ground Zero” in the battle between vacation rentals owners and their neighbors.
The Legislature preempted most regulation of short-term vacation rentals in 2011 but, after significant pushback from cities, reversed itself in 2014, allowing local governments to handle problems such as noise, parking, and trash, but preventing them from prohibiting or regulating the duration or frequency of short-vacation rentals.
However, that 2014 legislation hardly put an end to the problems that continue to surface in communities across the state when it comes to having short-term rentals in residential communities, and proposals to shift regulation of short-term rentals to the state have come before the Legislature every subsequent year.
The Senate bill has many critics — both local government officials and those who rent out their homes as vacation rentals.
Cookie Kennedy, mayor of Indian Rocks Beach in Pinellas County, testified Tuesday before the Appropriations Committee for Agriculture, Environment, and General Government. She said her staff began working on a local ordinance five months ago. It’s now in place, but she says that if the bill before the Legislature is enacted, it would wipe out her ordinance.
“This bill is not crafted in a manner to improve the quality of life for all of our residents,” Kennedy said.
David Will is mayor of Redington Beach, another beachside community in Pinellas. The legislation would essentially “be a preemption of everything that cities like mine have put into place,” he said.
“If SB 714 were to pass, it would reverse the 2014 legislation and preempt local governments from distinguishing between vacation rentals and residential homes,” he said.
DiCeglie offered an amendment Tuesday that would allow local governments to charge a fee of $150 for processing an individual registration application or $200 for a collective registration applications, while requiring that those governments accept the registration or deny it within 15 business days.
But that $150 fee won’t work, said St. Augustine City Manager John Regan. He noted that the costs of processing an individual application run up to $500 in his city. “One hundred and fifty dollars is a third of what it really costs,” he said. “This puts a tremendous burden that creates a strangulation on us in order to have any type of program.”
But it’s not just local government officials who don’t like DiCeglie’s bill.
Several people who rent out vacation rentals throughout the state said the proposal was far too onerous in terms of its regulations.
“I fully agree with common-sense regulations. However, this bill would remove any common-sense regulation across the state,” said Dolly Duran of Fort Lauderdale.
The measure would “impose unnecessary restrictions,” added Jerry Richardson, a student at Florida State University.
Samantha Padgett, vice president for government regulations with the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association, said her organization was very close to supporting the bill — but that members still have serious concerns when it comes to transparency in terms of allowing local governments to be aware of all of the vacation rental properties that exist in their jurisdictions.
DiCeglie said he doesn’t intend to propose anything that would allow local governments to eliminate vacation rentals, but wants to balance the interests of rental operators and communities.
“My goal is to find that balance, and I think that’s close,” he said.
The measure passed in the committee, 9-5, with Republicans Erin Grall and Illeana Garcia joining Democrats in opposing it, while Democrat Linda Stewart joined the Republicans on the committee in voting yes. The measure has one more committee stop before reaching the Senate floor. Its House equivalent (HB 833) also has one more stop one before reaching the floor in that chamber.
This article originally appeared in florida phoenix