HomeMy WebLinkAboutcocc_public_meeting_minutes_20210303PUBLIC COMMUNITY MEETING
(not an official meeting of the City Council)
City Hall Council Chambers
100 Polk Avenue, Cape Canaveral, Florida 32920
Wednesday
March 3, 2021
5:30 P.M.
MINUTES
Council Members Present:
Council Member Mickie Kellum (Moderator)
Council Member Wes Morrison
Planning and Zoning Board Members Present:
Board Member Susan Denny
Board Member Steven Stroud
Others Present:
City Manager Todd Morley
City Clerk Mia Goforth
Human Resources/Risk Management Dir. Melinda Huser
Brevard County Sheriff's Office Commander Andrew Walters
Brevard County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Brett Lockhart
TOPICS OF DISCUSSION: Florida Municipal Home Rule, short term/vacation rentals,
affordable housing and home-based businesses and other legislation.
Council Member Kellum opened the meeting at 5:28 P.M. and introduced guests Brevard County
District II Commissioner Bryan Lober, City of Satellite Beach Vice-Mayor Dominick Montanaro
and Indian Harbour Beach City Manager Mark Ryan.
City Manager Morley called for proper decorum during the discussion, explained the reason for
conducting the Community Meeting regarding Municipal Home Rule and provided a current
status update on the City's second Public Hearing of Ordinance No. 10-2021, scheduled for
Tuesday, March 16, 2021.
Satellite Beach Vice-Mayor Montanaro discussed municipal and local governments' relationship
to the Florida Legislature, potential negative impacts to people and local communities if some
current Florida House and Senate bills pass the State Legislature; the need for constituents to
contact their State Representatives directly by making phone calls and leaving messages.
Indian Harbour Beach City Manager Mark Ryan discussed the possibility that automobile repair
shops and massage parlors could operate in local neighborhoods, taking away local zoning and
affecting the character of communities, and legislation supported by local governments such as
sales tax fairness.
Brevard County Commissioner Lober discussed the effects of unfunded mandates on
municipalities created by the State Legislature, current State legislation to do away with regional
planning councils such as the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council which bring federal
funds to smaller municipalities for grants, legislation that would have a positive effect on
municipalities such as a current bill to eliminate the requirement to publish legal notice
advertisements in local newspaper publications.
City of Cape Canaveral, Florida
Community Meeting • March 3, 2021
Minutes • Page 2 of 2
Discussion ensued and included how Municipal Home Rule applies to short-term and vacation
rental businesses, opposition and support for the State bills, the Bert Harris Act and private
property rights, number of people attending in support or opposition to short-term or vacation
rentals being almost equal, encouragement for citizens to use local government to get things
done, income generated by the Tourist Development Council Bed Tax does not go to the
municipalities, short-term rental business accountability would likely be turned over to an
understaffed Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations to manage vacation
rental issues, unintended consequences when local municipal control is lost, software programs
to monitor short-term rental activity, the absence of and need for affordable housing in the City,
the need to work together, positive and negative experiences of living next door to vacation
rentals, properties in Cape Canaveral are being improved, distrust of elected officials, occupancy
and zoning in the City, differences between hotels and vacation rental operations, desires for 2
to 4 days versus 7-day minimum stays and difficulty in competing with hotels, lost revenue of
tourist dollars, lack of parking in the City, limited number of single family housing in the City, the
size of dwellings and structures versus occupancy, more stringent regulations in other
municipalities and litigation, history of the 7-day rental restriction in the City, the number of
single family homes being used for vacation rentals and interest in the data, identifying vacation
rentals with a placard or sign, whether Homeowners and/or Condominium Associations and
individual short-term rental properties should be segregated or operate under the same
regulations,the number of complaints being made from residential neighborhoods,appreciation
for having this Community Meeting, parking, trash and noise are Code Enforcement and can be
addressed using a chronic nuisance ordinance, concerns regarding fire and safety, online
platforms such as Airbnb do not mention 7-day minimums on its company website, maintaining
cleaning standards between bookings, the need for regulations,the expense of running vacation
rentals, long-term rentals versus vacation rentals, the need to target the unlicensed operators
and rule breakers in the City, differences between occupancies and rules in private and
commercial properties, regulating on a case-by-case basis is arbitrary and standards could not
be universally implemented.
Commissioner Lober suggested identifying the highest density short-term, vacation rental
operations that are working correctly, that are not generating a large number of calls to law
enforcement, then work back from there, possibly in tiers, as a way to apply regulations fairly
and urged citizens to bring concrete ideas to the City Council.
Council Member Kellum thanked everyone for attending and ended the meeting at 7:17 P.M.
Mia Goforth, City Clerk