Loading...
R5G-Short Term Rental Of Apartment Units Or Townhomes-Flamingo Park -Exposito-COMMISSION ITEM SUMMARY Condensed Title: Amending Section 142-1111, "Short Term Rental Of Apartment Units Or Townhomes," To Allow An Extension Of Time For A lications Due To Governmental Error. Key Intended Outcome Supported: Maintain strong growth management policies. Supporting Data (Surveys, Environmental Scan, etc.): While nearly half, 47.6%, suggested the effort put forth by the City to regulate development is "about the right amount," nearly one-third, 29.6%, indicated "too little" effort is being put forth by the City in this area. Issue: Should the City Commission amend the City Code to allow an extension of time for applications for short term rental due to overnmental error? Item Summary/Recommendation: FIRST READING The owner of 751 Meridian Avenue submitted an application to the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation (DBPR), Division of Hotels and Restaurants in September 2009 for a Transient Apartment license. Through an error by DBPR, the application was processed as non transient, rather than a transient license. The property has also been issued a resort tax account by the City. When the City adopted the "Short Term Rental of Apartment Units or Townhomes" ordinance allowing such rentals in the Flamingo Park Neighborhood, the owners of 751 Meridian Avenue were not able to obtain the required Certificate of Use to comply with the restrictions in the ordinance due to the State error when issuing the license, nor were they notified of the applicable deadlines and did not become aware of the deadlines until they had passed. At the September 21, 2011 LUDC meeting, the Committee discussed this issue and by a vote of 3-0, moved to refer an amending ordinance to the Planning Board, but with the restriction that an extension of time be limited to 60 days after adoption of the ordinance and only because of governmental error in issuing the proper license. The Administration recommends that the City Commission approve the proposed ordinance on first reading and set a second reading public hearing for the March 21, 2012 meeting. At its December 13, 2011 meeting, the Planning Board reviewed the proposed ordinance and by a vote of 4-1 2 members absent recommended that the Cit Commission a rove the ordinance. Financial Information: Source of Amount Account Funds: 1 D 2 3 OBPI Total Financial Impact Summary: In accordance with Charter section 5.02, which requires that the "City of Miami Beach shall consider the long-term economic impact (at least 5 years) of proposed legislative actions," this shall confirm that the City Administration evaluated the long-term economic impact (at least 5 years) of this proposed legislative action, and determined that there may be a measurable impact on the City's budget by enacting the proposed ordinance as there should be a slight revenue increase in Resort Taxes. MlAMIBEACH 349 r>s&-AGENDA ITEM _f'\ ___ _ DATE 2-~-{2.- ~ MIAMI BEACH City of Miami Beach, 1700 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, Florida 33139, www.miamibeachfl.gov TO: FROM: DATE: COMMISSION MEMORANDUM Mayor Matti Herrera Bower and Members of the City Commission Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager~ February 8, 2012 o-u FIRST READING SUBJECT: Short Term Rental of Apartment Units or Townhomes AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, BY AMENDING CHAPTER 142 OF THE CITY CODE, "ZONING DISTRICTS AND REGULATIONS," ARTICLE IV, "SUPPLEMENTARY DISTRICT REGULATIONS," DIVISION 3, "SUPPLEMENTARY USE REGULATIONS," BY AMENDING SECTION 142·1111, "SHORT TERM RENTAL OF APARTMENT UNITS OR TOWN HOMES," TO ALLOW AN EXTENSION OF TIME FOR APPLICATIONS DUE TO GOVERNMENTAL ERROR; PROVIDING FOR REPEALER, SEVERABILITY, CODIFICATION, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDATION The Administration recommends that the City Commission approve the proposed ordinance on first reading in its current, limited form and set a second reading public hearing for the March 21, 2012 meeting. The Administration does not support expanding the scope of the proposed ordinance. BACKGROUND This item was referred by the City Commission to the Planning Board at its October 19, 2011 meeting (City Commission item C4A), following an earlier referral to and review by the Land Use and Development Committee at its September 21, 2011 meeting, at the request of Commissioner Exposito (May 11, 2011 City Commission Item C4D). The item seeks a recommendation on a proposed amendment to the recently enacted Ordinance 2010-3685, "Short Term Rental Of Apartment Units Or Townhomes -Flamingo Park Neighborhood," which contains provisions and regulations governing those properties to be legalized for short term rental in that neighborhood. The time periods specified in the ordinance are as follows: Time periods to apply for short-term rental approvals. (1) Owners demonstrating compliance with subsections (b)(1) or (2) above, shall apply for a certificate of use permitting short-term rental as detailed in subsection 142- 350 City Commission Memorandum Short term rentals February 8, 2012 Page2 1111 (d) within a time period of six months from the effective date of this section (June 19, 201 0), or be deemed ineligible to proceed through the process specified herein for legalization of short-term rentals. (2} Within three months of the effective date of the ordinance enacting this section (June 19, 2010), eligible owners shall apply to obtain all necessary approvals to comply with the Florida Building Code, Florida Fire Prevention Code and with all other applicable life safety standards. (3} Compliance with the applicable requirements of the Florida Building Code and Florida Fire Prevention Code shall be demonstrated by October 1, 2011, or rights to engage in short-term rental under this section shall be subject to restrictions and/or limitations as directed by the building official and/or fire marshal. This subsection shall not prevent these officials from undertaking enforcement action prior to such date. The deadline for applications to legalize short-term rentals has now passed. Eligibility for this provision was determined by a specific set of criteria; for apartment buildings of four or more units, or for four or more apartment units in one or more buildings under the same resort tax account, the criteria are as follows: In order to demonstrate current, consistent and predominant short-term renting, the property must comply with all of the following: a. Have been registered with the city for the payment of resort tax and made resort tax payments as of March 1 0, 201 0; and b. Have had City of Miami Beach Resort Tax taxable room revenue equal to at least 50 percent of total room revenue over the last two-year period covered by such payments; and c. Have been registered, with the State of Florida as a transient apartment or resort condominium pursuant to Chapter 509, Florida Statutes, as of March 1 0, 2010. After these criteria were developed, staff identified all those properties that would qualify under these provisions, and developed a list of these properties for review by the Commission during the process of adoption. After the ordinance was adopted, a letter was sent to those properties on the list informing them of the passage of the ordinance and the requirements and deadlines associated with the new provisions. Recently, Mr. Simon Ferro, attorney for the owners of the apartment building at 751 Meridian Avenue made inquiries at the Planning Department regarding the short-term rental ordinance, after the property was cited by Code Compliance for short-term rentals without a license. Mr. Ferro has determined that the property would have met all the criteria of the ordinance, but for the fact that the State of Florida mistakenly issued them a license for non-transient apartments, even though they had applied previously for transient apartments. Because they had received the wrong license, they were not on the list and not specifically notified about the passage of the ordinance and applicable deadlines. Mr. Ferro has requested that his client be allowed to seek licensing under the ordinance, as his client's property otherwise meets all of the criteria to qualify based upon payment of resort taxes, and other licensing requirements. As deadlines of the ordinance cannot be waived by City staff; any exemption would require additional 351 City Commission Memorandum Short term rentals February 8, 2012 legislation to reference such a case. ANALYSIS Page3 The owner of 751 Meridian Avenue submitted an application to the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation (DBPR), Division of Hotels and Restaurants in September 2009 for a Transient Apartment license. Through an error by DBPR, the application was processed as non transient, rather than a transient license. The property has also been issued a resort tax account by the City. When the City adopted the "Short Term Rental of Apartment Units or Townhomes" ordinance allowing such rentals in the Flamingo Park Neighborhood, the owners of 751 Meridian Avenue were not able to obtain the required Certificate of Use to comply with the restrictions in the ordinance due to the State error when issuing the license, nor were they notified of the applicable deadlines and did not become aware of the deadlines until they had passed. At the September 21, 2011 LUDC meeting, the Committee discussed this issue and by a vote of 3-0, moved to refer an amending ordinance to the Planning Board, but with the restriction that an extension of time be limited to 60 days after adoption of the ordinance and only because of governmental error in issuing the proper license. This amending ordinance was referred to the Planning Board by the City Commission at its October 19, 2011 meeting. PLANNING BOARD At its December 13, 2011 meeting, the Planning Board reviewed the proposed ordinance and by a vote of 4-1 (Stolar opposed, Veitia and Fryd absent) recommended that the City Commission approve the ordinance. At this meeting, an attorney representing another property owner made a request to modify the proposed ordinance to include another property that was not able to avail itself of the benefits of the already approved ordinance. The case was. presented as impediments that did not include governmental errors as the cause for the delay. The Board voted 3-2 (Stolar & Tobin opposed, Veitia & Fryd absent) on this new proposal; however, the motion failed. FISCAL IMPACT In accordance with Charter section 5.02, which requires that the "City of Miami Beach shall consider the long-term economic impact (at least 5 years) of proposed legislative actions," this shall confirm that the City Administration evaluated the long-term economic impact (at least 5 years) of this proposed legislative action, and determined that there may be a measurable impact on the City's budget by enacting the proposed ordinance as there should be a very slight revenue increase in Resort Taxes. CONCLUSION The Administration recommends that the City Commission approve the proposed ordinance on first reading and set a second reading public hearing for the March 21, 2012 meeting. This recommendation of approval is only for the very limited ordinance before the Commission as written, and would not extend to any modification which would expand the scope of the ordinance to other properties, which the Administration would not recommend. 352 City Commission Memorandum Short term rentals February 8, 2012 Page4 Pursuant to Section 118-164(3) when a request to amend the land development regulations does not change the actual list of permitted, conditional or prohibited uses in a zoning category, the proposed ordinance may be read by title or in full on at least two separate days and shall, at least ten days prior to adoption, be noticed once in a newspaper of general circulation in the city. Immediately following the public hearing at the second reading, the city commission may adopt the ordinance. An affirmative vote of five-sevenths of all members of the City Commission shall be necessary to enact any amendment to these land development regulations. JMG/JGG/RGUML T:\AGENDA\2012\2-8-12\Short term rental memo.docx 353 "SHORT TERM RENTAL OF APARTMENT UNITS OR TOWNHOMES" Flamingo Park Neighborhood ORDINANCE NO.---- AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, BY AMENDING CHAPTER 142 OF THE CITY CODE, "ZONING DISTRICTS AND REGULATIONS," ARTICLE IV, "SUPPLEMENTARY DISTRICT REGULATIONS," DIVISION 3, "SUPPLEMENTARY USE REGULATIONS," BY AMENDING SECTION 142-1111, "SHORT TERM RENTAL OF APARTMENT UNITS OR TOWNHOMES," TO ALLOW AN EXTENSION OF TIME FOR APPLICATIONS DUE TO GOVERNMENTAL ERROR; PROVIDING FOR REPEALER, SEVERABILITY, CODIFICATION, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City Commission has determined through the adoption of ordinance no. 2010-3685, among other things, that there is a potential for harm if transient rentals are permitted without regulations protecting against adverse external effects of such use or prohibited in certain instances; that multifamily or townhome unit owners' sense of community and privacy would be compromised by unregulated and unrestricted commercial and transient use of units in multifamily buildings and neighborhoods; that multifamily or townhome unit owners have reasonable expectations of a community of permanent neighbors and owners and the privacy such a community entails; that the privacy and ambience of such multifamily or townhome residential buildings and areas are materially undermined by unregulated and unrestricted transient rentals; that the values associated with multifamily or town home residential areas can only be preserved by very limited and controlled commercial and transient use of residences, if at all; and WHEREAS, based upon the factors listed above, any relaxation of the current land development regulations with respect to short term rentals in multifamily zoning districts had to be limited in size and scope to specifically defined neighborhood areas, and deemed that within the Flamingo Park and Espanola Way Historic Districts, a limited number of short term rental uses, which can demonstrate a current and consistent history of short-term renting, may be approved by the City under certain specified conditions, if subject to regulation that would protect the enjoyment, character and value of apartment or townhome residential neighborhoods, buildings and units; and WHEREAS, the City Commission found that such regulations are consistent with and further the public health, safety and welfare of the City and adopted Ordinance No. 2010-3685 on June 9, 2010 wherein short term rental of apartment units or townhomes under certain specified conditions is permitted; and 1 of 3 354 WHEREAS, an owner of a short term rental property in the Flamingo Park neighborhood who otherwise qualified under the ordinance sought to apply for the appropriate city licenses, but was denied the opportunity due to a license processing error by a state governmental agency; and WHEREAS, the amendment proposed herein is necessary to allow the appropriate city licenses to be issued overcoming the other governmental license error; and WHEREAS, the City Attorney has opined that this amendment would not jeopardize the status of City Ordinance 2010-3685 creating section 142-1111, which was grandfathered under Section 509.032(7)(b), Florida Statutes (2011). NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: Section 1. City Code Chapter 142, "Zoning Districts and Regulations," Article IV, "Supplementary District Regulations," Division 3, "Supplementary Use Regulations," Section 142-1111, "Short Term Rental of Apartment Units or Townhomes" is hereby amended as follows: Sec. 142-1111. Short Term Rental of Apartment Units or Townhomes. * * * (c) Time periods to apply for short-term rental approvals. {1) Owners demonstrating compliance with subsections (b)(1) or (2) above, shall apply for a certificate of use permitting short-term rental as detailed in subsection 142-1111 (d) within a time period of six months from the effective date of this section (June 19, 201 0}, or be deemed ineligible to proceed through the process specified herein for legalization of short-term rentals. {2) Within three months of the effective date of the ordinance enacting this section (June 19, 2010), eligible owners shall apply to obtain all necessary approvals to comply with the Florida Building Code, Florida Fire Prevention Code and with all other applicable life safety standards. {3) Compliance with the applicable requirements of the Florida Building Code and Florida Fire Prevention Code, shall be demonstrated by October 1, 2011, or rights to engage in short-term rental under this section shall be subject to restrictions and/or limitations as directed by the building official and/or fire marshal. This subsection shall not prevent these officials from undertaking enforcement action prior to such date. ~) Applications under this Ordinance may be accepted until 60 days after adoption of this subsection (insert date). upon demonstration to the Planning Director that a government licensing error prevented timely filing of the application. 2 of3 355 Section 2. Repealer. All ordinances or parts of ordinances and all section and parts of sections in conflict herewith be and the same are hereby repealed. Section 3. Codification. It is the intention of the City Commission, and it is hereby ordained, that the provisions of this Ordinance shall become and be made part of the Code of the City of Miami Beach, as amended; that the sections of this Ordinance may be re- numbered or re-lettered to accomplish such intention; and that the word "ordinance" may be changed to "section" or other appropriate word. Section 4. Severability. This ordinance is severable; if any provision hereof is held void or unconstitutional in a final decision by a court of competent jurisdiction, the balance of the ordinance, and the remainder of Ordinance 2010-3685 creating City Code section 142-1111, shall remain valid. Section 5. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall take effect ten days following adoption. PASSED and ADOPTED this __ day of ____ 2012. ATTEST: CITY CLERK MAYOR APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LANGUAGE 0~ AND FOR EXECUTION . J 131 JJ.2. 1 y Attorney~ ~ First Reading: Second Reading: Verified By: Richard G. Lorber, AICP Acting Planning Director T:\AGENDA\2012\2-8-12\Short term rental ord.docx 3 of3 356