Editor,
Imagine your surprise to walk on a property you own at 7:30 in the morning to find a large man you do not know, in his underwear, smoking a cigarette, and letting his dog relieve himself on the patio.
Imagine your concern walking home from dinner on July 3 and seeing people on a front patio in the village with a raging fire in a portable fire pit, tossing embers into the Laguna sky.
Imagine your frustration living across the street from a weekend “party house” where the partygoers change every weekend through short-term rental activity.
These are not imaginary. They are real, and are just some of the many current examples of why the majority of Laguna Beach residents oppose short term lodging in residential neighborhoods.
Proposals to allow short term rentals throughout residential neighborhoods with tough rules and regulations (the council subcommittee proposal) are not the answer.
Laguna will not have the resources or the resolve to enforce such regulations.
Case in point, there is currently a moratorium on short term rentals, yet there are over 300 active short term rentals on Airbnb alone.
If Laguna isn’t going to enforce a moratorium, what suggests our city will enforce complicated regulations?
Save our neighborhoods. Make your voice loud and clear. Support the planning commission’s proposal that will prevent a huge expansion of short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods.
Kay Keating Munn, Laguna Beach
It is simply not true that “the majority of Laguna Beach residents oppose Short Term Rentals”. This assertion has no real evidence to substantiate it. This has been the case all along the discussion on this topic. We have a very active group of retired folks that simply don’t like any tourist coming to town and STR is topic of the day.
The STR opposing camp keeps on drumming the FUD drums in an attempt to bend reality. I really wish they would listen to all the options available and sensible proposals like making the owner be at the same location that is being rented.
The reality is that Laguna has had STR for decades and the vast majority of them have operated successfully and for the benefit of the community. We should have legislation to reign in any “bad apples” but a complete ban as propose by the “stop time” camp is in direct contravention to the California Coastal Act as clearly noticed by the Coastal Commission on a letter to City Council dated July 13.
Again, let’s work together with factual data to moves this issue forward for the benefit of our community. Let’s stop the fear mongering drums.