HomeMy WebLinkAboutcocc_p&z_str_email_klotzbach_20210222Barbara Klotzbach
Laurie Klotzbach Curtis
8914 Puerto Del Rio Drive, Unit 203
Cape Canaveral, FL 32920
508-479-8034 (cell)
laurier 1620associates.com (e-mail)
barbara 'bachcorp.net (e-mail)
Re: Proposed Vacation Rental Ordinance
February 2.2, 2021
Dear Cape Canaveral Planning and Zoning Board Members:
Since our move from Massachusetts to Cape Canaveral in 2018, we have been very impressed by
the City's outstanding commitment to our parks, fitness, and the environment and have enjoyed
participating in the Mayors' Fitness Challenge. We are proud of our community.
As Cape Canaveral residents and former vacation rental property owners, we were therefore
shocked and disappointed to read about the City's proposal to engage in a campaign of
regulatory war on Cape Canaveral vacation rentals during a time when they are providing safer
and desirable family vacation rental options during this COVID epidemic. The most
disillusioning fact was that the whole issue presentation is so biased in a negative way that any
feedback is only being offered after a detailed and bleak picture of vacation rentals has been
painted. Having a background in state and local government, it is very disheartening that this is
the "fair" way the City chooses to offer an article It isn't neutral at all, but instead indicates that
the City has already determined that vacation rentals are a scourge on our city landscape and
must be further regulated. No hard evidence of alleged abuses is offered, just insinuations and
vague references to complaints. This is far from an impartial or fact -based approach.
As an example of the negative bias, the City presents the total number of non -homesteaded
properties, including those owned by snowbirds, for a total of 1,609 properties. It then uses that
figure as a red herring to inflate the actual number of short-term vacation rentals in the city by
more than five -fold. This is not an accurate way to present figures, and we are dismayed that
you would resort to radical number inflation and scare tactics.
This vacation rental proposal is a clear example of government overreach and is designed to
curtail a COVID-safe family vacation rental option at a time when people are seeking private
accommodations to better protect themselves and their families. These measures are pushed by
hotel lobbies who want to curtail private home rentals. Cape Canaveral keeps building hotel
after hotel, and these hotels are suffering for customers right now without the cruise industry.
Therefore, the leadership of the City appears to have decided to try to force more people who
want to stay in Cape Canaveral to stay in a hotel.
There are very few private vacation rental homes in Cape Canaveral compared to surrounding
cities, and the Mayor and City Council are overstating a problem that is limited to a tiny handful
of properties. These same problems occur with many of the City's other longer -term rental units.
As residents, we would like know the number of calls to the Sheriff s office received in regard to
vacation rentals relative to the number of calls received from other similar housing units in Cape
Canaveral.
We are former owners of a property in the unincorporated area of Cocoa Beach, where we
renovated an older, neglected single-family home into a beautiful showplace and the premiere
property in the neighborhood. Since we completed our renovation, other homes in the
neighborhood, all non -vacation rentals, have been upgraded. We helped launch the process of
restoring homes in a neighborhood that was suffering from lack of care and upkeep. We were
next to a place that had weekly rentals and numerous calls to the Sheriffs Department. Do you
truly believe that one single-family home with its own driveway that caters to an upscale family
clientele is the problem in Cape Canaveral neighborhoods?
The City is overreacting to problems that occur at a tiny handful of properties and blaming all
vacation rental property owners, even people who own single-family homes or condo units in a
privately -governed condo complex. This appears to be an attempt by the City to use its power to
protect hotels, gain extra permit fees, and to force small businesses out of business, especially
when the owner doesn't live in Brevard County and therefore can't personally be on -call and on -
site 24 hours a day. The only people who will be able to stay in business are larger vacation
rental companies, another way to help big business at the expense of small businesses including
people who are renting their homes to provide retirement income.
We are very disappointed that our City leadership is attacking small business owners by working
to limit vacation rental options and feasibility. This will drive down property values, prevent
further upgrades of properties in struggling neighborhoods, and cut revenue to local small
businesses. This would be a blow to our small businesses, both vacation rentals and others that
depend on vacationers for revenue at a time when we should be helping businesses rather than
trying to hurt them. This is a move that will benefit hotels and drive many families away from
Cape Canaveral as a vacation rental option. It will make it more difficult for people to provide
COVID-safe family vacation rental options, a move that is very out of touch with the pandemic.
During this unprecedented and challenging time, is this really the City's most important priority
regarding our economic climate and future of our community?
The City already has a restrictive one -week rental ordinance that prevents weekend partiers from
renting. The people the article is referencing don't appear to be following this guideline. If
Cape Canaveral is having problems with compliance with current rules and regulations, the
offenders should be targeted, not everyone else. The Sheriff's Department can already respond
to any noise and parking complaint from either a vacation rental or permanent residence. The
City should focus on enforcing existing city noise and parking ordinances to address these issues
instead of adding new laws. The problems described in the memorandum are already addressed
under existing city statutes. There is no need to add new regulations when the current ones
address the very issues are causing problems. If people are not complying with current rules,
they are not going to comply with new rules so adding new rules to penalize existing non -
complaint owners doesn't even make sense.
We think the City of Cape Canaveral can and should do much better. It is so easy to adopt
reactionary measures pushed by big business instead of standing up for small businesses. It is
simple to adopt a far-reaching approach to dealing with a handful of complaints. We do not
believe that this is the smart and future -oriented approach that should be adopted by our City,
one of the gems of the Space Coast. I encourage you to think beyond the bureaucratic tendency
to love overregulation and instead think to the future of bringing more visitors to Cape
Canaveral. Visitors can choose to stay in other communities and take their money with them.
Property owners can choose to remodel and upgrade depressed homes in other communities.
Cape Canaveral can overreact and overregulate. We hope our City chooses to be better, smarter,
and more progressive.
We would love to see the city's forward -thinking approach recognize the value of small
businesses, vacation rentals, and vacationers to our economy and to our future.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and for reconsidering this issue with an open mind.
Sincerely,
Barbara Klotzbach
Laurie Klotzbach Curtis