City Council Now Says It’s Already Illegal To Rent A Vacation House in Malibu, Despite Collecting Taxes
Written by 991KBU on September 27, 2018
Malibu’s City Council took the first steps last night to ban overnight rentals of residential units in the city.
But … don’t expect any changes for a while.
By a 3-2 vote … the city council last night voted to give up 1 point 8 million dollars in taxes on overnight rentals .…
They decided to interpret the current zoning rules … and the Coastal Commission’s Local Coastal Plan for Malibu … under the strict terms of the policies written 15 years ago …. long before Internet vacation rentals were invented.
The city’s current coastal plan … which was actually written by the Coastal Commission 15 years ago and imposed on Malibu.
And it plainly states that overnight rentals are legal only in hotels and motels … and motels are only legal in a few designated commercial areas.
But B and Bs are still allowed to operate today … still liable to pay a 12 percent tax to the city.
That Pandora’s box was opened years ago … when the city began taxing vacation rentals.
But the city council says the current law makes B and Bs zoning violations.
The split city council directed its staff to come back with analysis of a total ban … the procedural options for the city ,,. including how the city would need to change the LCP …. and financial impact.
Current overnight rentals can continue to operate in the meantime.
Councilman Skylar Peak said overnight rentals are driving families with kids out of local schools.
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QQQ: clearly says that in our codes.
“Their kids are in our schools here, and we have a lot of issues to deal with that in housing, that is housing stock that is off the market on a long teem basis.”
“It wasn’t meant to be a hotel when it was zoned RR-1 or RR-5 … it clearly says that in our codes.”
Councilwoman Laura Rosental disagreed.
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“We heard last time — and we have gotten letters from — parents that want to stay here and keep their kids in the schools but fear that they cannot …
“We don’t have the data, we are just saying ‘gee, this is what I’ve heard,’ and you’re saying this is what you’ve heard, and we don’t have the data that says this is taking out housing stock from families.”
Malibu Mayor Rick Mullen was the swing vote on the matter …
NEWSCART 77888 MULLEN RENTALS CCCC :23
QQQ BE CONCERNED ABOUT WITH THE COASTAL COMMISSION.
“There’s nothing going to change out there in the next couple of days, but I think it’s super important that we get this thing right,
And that we really understand what our legal position is, what the financial implications of everything are, and what we have to be concerned about with the Coastal Commission.”
The decision was made after nearly three hours of public testimony.
Bottom line … the city council wants to start all over again with an amendment to the Local Coastal Program … a change that would require approval from the Coastal Commission.
But a majority of the current city council opposes overnight rentals in the city.
The two council members who voted against this … Laura Rosenthal and Lou Ma Monte … are both leaving office in two months.
