Editor,
Rita Robinson’s recent article in the Indy describes how neighborhoods bordering South Laguna beaches are being inundated by a tsunami of day-trippers, unleashed by social-media and unaccountable to their neighbors because they’re not neighbors. What if that tsunami could have been prevented in the first place?
It’s not too late to prevent the predictable tsunami of short-term rentals in Laguna. A number of beach cities have enacted total bans against them: Redondo Beach, Tiburon, Belvedere, Sausalito, Manhattan Beach, Monterey, Carmel, and Santa Barbara, besides the inland cities Ojai, Anaheim, Aliso Viejo, and West Hollywood.
We, however, have a carefully crafted, moderate ordinance presented to us by our excellent Planning Commission after their many months of study. It doesn’t rule out STL entirely, it only restricts it to the commercial zones where it belongs. If we do have to fight the Coastal Commission about this issue, we will obviously not be alone—and it’s the right thing to do.
Rule number one—don’t enact an unenforceable ordinance! At a recent Council Subcommittee meeting about the STL issue, we were given expert testimony by Dr. James Danziger, who stated that the changes the Council is considering making to the Planning Commission’s ordinance on STL are unenforceable.
The City Council meets on Aug. 9 to make a final decision about the STL ordinance; it should stick with the Planning Commission’s version.
Rosemary Boyd, Laguna Beach
