Friday, March 29, 2024

Here comes the latest attempt to regulate short term vacation rentals in Florida


Pinellas County Republican Senator Nick DiCeglie lives in Indian Rocks Beach, which he calls “Ground Zero” in the occasionally contentious factor of short-term vacation rentals in Florida.

DiCeglie got here earlier than the Senate Regulated Industries Committee past due Tuesday afternoon to unveil this 12 months’s model of an offer (SB 714) that will revise the native laws of vacation apartment platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo.

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Similar regulation has been offered just about once a year over the previous decade, however none have crossed the end line and develop into regulation.

That’s in section as a result of opposition that has come from native governments, the vacation apartment platforms and the lodge and accommodation trade.

“The spirit of this bill is to give local governments some more tools in their toolbox in managing vacation rentals,” DiCeglie mentioned when introducing the measure.

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The invoice would restrict native governments to charging not more than $50 for a person to check in a vacation apartment, and $100 for a collective vacation apartment. It would additionally require native governments to settle for or deny a registration software inside of 15 days of receipt of an software.

In 2011, the state handed a regulation that prohibited native governments from enacting any new regulation that limited the use of vacation rentals, prohibited vacation rentals or regulated vacation rentals, giving that energy to the state executive.

At the identical time, about 75 native ordinances up to now on the books had been “grandfathered.” After pushback from towns, the Legislature reversed itself in 2014, permitting native governments to take care of problems equivalent to noise, parking and trash, however nonetheless combating them from prohibiting or regulating the length or frequency of short-vacation rentals.

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Before participants of the public weighed in, DiCeglie instructed Jacksonville Democrat Tracie Davis that every one of the primary stakeholders “are not happy with the bill,” which he mentioned that in keeping with his previous historical past serving in the Legislature (he represented a portion of Pinellas County in the House for 4 years earlier than being elected to the Senate final fall) implies that “we might have a pretty good piece of public policy here.”

He used to be correct that a lot of the primary stakeholders aren’t satisfied together with his proposal because it’s these days written.

“Please do not think that this is a coastal issue,” mentioned Jack Cory, a lobbyist representing Jacksonville Beach. “If this bill is approved, California big tech will be putting vacation rentals in every county in the state.”

Cory objected to the provision in the regulation giving native governments simply 15 days to procedure a vacation apartment license. “When does any state agency approve license in 15 days?” he requested.

Jason Steele is a lobbyist representing Cape Canaveral and Satellite Beach in Brevard County. He mentioned that once Cape Canaveral hosts house launches “millions of people” come to the Space Coast to attend. With that inflow in the inhabitants, he mentioned that the $50 vacation apartment “just isn’t going to work.”

“We’ve got trash to pick up, we’ve got law enforcement, we’ve got huge amounts of things that are really detrimental, and a lot of those people are staying at Airbnb’s,” he mentioned.

DiCeglie mentioned later that he may well be amenable to converting that $50 registration charge.

Samantha Padgett with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association described her group’s tackle the proposal as “soft opposition,” pronouncing that the measure nonetheless wanted extra knowledge transparency, compliance parity and duty.

The proposal handed 5-2, with the two Democrats on the committee, Davis and Broward County’s Rosalind Osgood balloting no. It has two extra committees to transfer thru to get to the ground. A spouse invoice (HB 833) backed by means of Jacksonville Republican Wyman Duggan has but to be scheduled in the first of its 4 committees that it’s been assigned to.



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