Overnight Rental Controversy Back At City Hall Thursday After Fire Delay
Written by 991KBU on October 1, 2019
The issue of overnight vacation rentals in Malibu comes back before a city council subcommittee Thursday afternoon.
And like cities around the world .. Malibu is torn apart by some residents who rely on income from their houses … and other residents who point out that residential neighborhoods are not supposed to be businesses.
Last September … the city council voted to study the financial ramifications of banning overnight rentals … a revenue source of about 2 and a half million dollars last year.
Overnight rentals make up about 6.4 percent of the city’s overall general budget.
At a special subcommittee meeting Thursday afternoon … two city council members are supposed to get a report on the financial impact of banning overnight rentals … B and Bs … in unattended residences.
The report was written by a company hired by the city … but the report has not been released to the public in advance of the meeting.
The city council one year ago voted to look at options to banning overnight rentals … but the Woolsey Fire broke out a week later and that process was delayed.
Opponents are blasting the delay … and the fact that the financial analysis has not been released to the public before the meeting.
Michael Lustig says it’s been three years of discussion and analysis so far.
And he says the issue of the Woolsey Fire and overnight rentals should not be conflated.
Lustig writes that the thought of using revenue from overnight rentals to solve a different problem … Woolsey Fire effects on the city budget … is preposterous.
He warns that “the City will recover financially without the (overnight rental) revenue, but it will never recover from the commercialism and over-tourism that will come from lax or poor regulations.”
After three years of discussions … the bad and breakfast / overnight rental issue goes before the city’s Administrative and Financial Services subcommittee … Thursday afternoon at 1 at City hall.
That subcommittee is made up of council members Rick Mullen and Skylar Peak.
