HomeMy WebLinkAboutcocc_p&z_str_email_rosenberg_20210224Patricia Roth
From: Mia Goforth
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2021 1:19 PM
To: David Dickey
Cc: Daniel LeFever; Patricia Roth
Subject: FW: Proposed Vacation Rental Ordinance 10-2021
fyi
Mia Goforth, CMC
City Clerk + Records Custodian + ADA Coordinator City of Cape Canaveral
(321) 868-1220 x207
100 Polk Avenue — P.O. Box 326
Cape Canaveral, Florida 32920
Original Message
From: Bob Rosenberg [mailto:pnb8675309@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2021 12:47 PM
To: City Clerk <CityClerk@cityofcapecanaveral.org>; Bob Hoog <B.Hoog@cityofcapecanaveral.org>; Angela Raymond
<A.Raymond@cityofcapecanaveral.org>; Mike Brown <M.Brown@cityofcapecanaveral.org>; Mickie Kellum
<m.kellum@cityofcapecanaveral.org>; Wes Morrison <W.Morrison@cityofcapecanaveral.org>
Subject: Proposed Vacation Rental Ordinance 10-2021
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Re: Proposed Vacation Rental Ordinance 10-2021 February 24, 2021
Dear Mayor Hoog, City Manager Morley, and Members of the Cape Canaveral City Council:
I have been a Brevard County resident since 1973, at six years old, I clearly remember living on Merritt Island while
attending Lewis Carroll Elementary School and seeing our County grow through the years. While growing up I moved
about Brevard living in Cocoa, Melbourne, Titusville, and PSJ putting myself through BCC and UCF to eventually work at
Kennedy Space Center (KSC) experiencing the most exciting and rewarding part of my career... while choosing Cape
Canaveral to buy a quaint home in 1988, that I love and return to often... waiting for the day when I can return and
retire.
Sadly, once the Shuttle was retired in 2011 and the resulting Constellation Program was cancelled, the Space Program
came to a sunset in Brevard... causing extreme devastation to the entire Space Coast. A multitude of businesses closed,
homes were trashed, destroyed, and abandoned, pets were locked or chained up and abandoned as lay-offs caused an
unnatural disaster. A multitude of my co-workers, friends, neighbors, and other residents were forced to leave Brevard,
many who I keep in touch with on social media and through Linkedln. As the entire county suffered Toss and those trying
to make a viable living were put through the wringer as we saw property values and neighborhoods plummet... many of
us who love Brevard had to leave for work to support ourselves and our families.
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I was forced to move or lose my job, then chose to consciously live frugally to keep my home in Cape Canaveral, instead
of destroying or abandoning it. Know it has been entirely upgraded and I remain in close contact with my neighbors we
have all improved our area... I still care for and visit with my neighbors, who are close friends, as often as possible until I
can return home where there's a unique feel in Cape Canaveral. It is uniquely The Space Between a sustainable coastal
community, if guided with integrity and worked together with the community in a manner that allows for teamwork,
diversity, and inclusion. Our coastal community responsibly embraces the ocean and river as key amenities, we
appreciate how fortunate we are, as good caretakers of our natural environment treating it and each other with Grace
and dignity. We support a vision that promotes local tourism, appreciates culture and education, while offering clean
recreation and a healthy resiliency for commerce. Which is why, when the opportunity came up through the credible
organization of Airbnb to share my sweet home and much loved City of Cape Canaveral it was a blessing. Airbnb, vets
guests and as a responsible homeowner and host I provide House Rules electronically via their site and have a booklet in
my home which includes city laws. Along with posting House Rules we offer tourism guidebooks promoting many local
small businesses and willingly share everything that's our locale has to offer. My home has always been very well
maintained, as many of my neighbors, ensuring a high rating with respectful and responsible guests whose tourism
spending and local patronage have contributed to many local businesses. I provide audio and video security outside of
my home and we follow special COVID-19 precautions and cleanliness protocols. Many vacation rentals are like mine in
that they provide better security, cleanliness, and attract higher levels of guests than many of the larger hotels and
motels... please do an internet search on hotel cleanliness and perform diligent research on hotels and their non-
existent screening or vetting of guests, with no restrictions or oversight on how they behave. Whereas responsible
vacation homes and hosts provide a valuable resource for Cape Canaveral, as I took in a family escaping from a local
horrid hotel experience... Instead of leaving Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach with a sour tale to tell, this forgiving family, as
many other kind guests have been able to share lovely stories with many friends and families... of Cape Canaveral, the
Space Between and my lovely relaxing beachside home, shinning a glowing light upon us and the Space Coast.
As a responsible homeowner and vacation home host, we pay taxes and provide a valuable resource and service to the
City of Cape Canaveral. A place where we continue to envision and enjoy a unique atmosphere, a place where we
proudly share our beautiful and architecturally rich city... we have even had guests love our home and city enough to
move to Cape Canaveral, enriching our community. Many vacation hosts and guests share beautiful pictures and stories
on social media through Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram showcasing our beaches, parks, river, community leisure
center, while honoring our commitment to the environment and preserving our coastline. We are unpaid community
supporters and engaging tourism hosts that bring a valuable service to our city. We attract guests that are seeking
respite from other more cold, harried industrialized, hotels... providing premier options for those wanting to enjoy a
relaxing beachside vacation where they feel welcome by a community that cares about its city, environment, culture,
and residents. It is us homeowners who are willing to share our homes and city as willing advocates for improving our
community and environment... we envision an engaged and compassionate community, one that is caring for our
neighbors, supportive of our local businesses, enhancing economic viability while serving everyone, without
discrimination, and embracing visitors with culture, diversity, and inclusion.
Before the city imposes unreasonable ordinance changes, please do diligent research into the quality of living where
responsible vacation homeowners share their homes and communities to see increasing value in communities where
common interests are shared. Presently, many of us are afraid that big business and lobbyists are more concerned with
their own bottom line than our lovely community. Many vacationers are seasonal and returning guests who appreciate
staying in a beautiful, clean, house full of amenities and the comforts of home. They are considerate, respectful,
courteous, and generous in sharing their wonderful experiences while visiting our precious community, touting our city's
hometown feel. Some guests are workers who provide valued services in the community, when needed, while others
are relocating to Brevard and looking for a community where they can purchase a home and call it their own. They are
not criminals, vagrants, druggies, partying through the night, creating a raucous or breaking laws. They are held
accountable for their actions and can be asked to leave in an instant, if necessary... something long term
apartment/condo owners, or hotels may be unwilling or unable to do.
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Many friends, neighbors, and vacation homeowners have been dismayed to hear about the City's proposal to engage in
a campaign of regulatory war on Cape Canaveral vacation rentals during a time when we are providing safer and more
desirable family vacation rental availability during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is becoming evident this issue is being
presented in a biased and negative light, while our duly elected officials and governing body (not an oligarchy) seems to
be dissuading and ignoring any/all positive feedback, reflecting poorly on our preciously diverse and inclusive
community.
As a UCF graduate with honors, BA in Public Administration and minor in Criminal Justice who has worked with the
government for 34 plus years and garnered the respect of many, I beseech you to search deeply into why you would
enact such ordinances attacking those who provide vacation rentals. Especially, when we are more in -line with the City
of Cape Canaveral's Vision of a welcoming community... unless, there are other reasons to paint such a bleak picture of
vacation rentals? Experience in working with federal, state, and local government has provided me with insight into the
frailties of loyalty and how it may be swayed by those with certain interests... it would be very disturbing to discover the
City isn't fairly listening to all its constituents or considering in an open and fair way the item before them. To the hard
core of this issue no evidentiary proof has been presented of any offenses by vacationing rental guests. Any allegations
have no real proven basis when real facts should be reviewed in an open forum while fairly listening to everyone
without discrimination and pre -conceived notions, where bias may be noted.
Many homeowners who are sharing our homes as vacation rentals are educated and savvy enough to see negative bias
as the City presents the total number of non -homesteaded properties, including those owned by snowbirds, for a total
of 1,609 properties. Then use that total to inflate the actual number of short-term vacation rentals in the city by more
than five -fold. This is not accurate and is a seemingly duplicitous way to present these figures. It's disappointing to see
our elected representatives resorting to unsavory and radical number inflation to be used as scare tactics.
This vacation rental proposal is clearly an example of government overreach and designed to restrict COVID-19 safe
family vacation rental options when people are actively seeking private accommodations to better protect themselves
and their families. These measures are pushed by hotel lobbyist trying to boost their own bottom line by stomping on
those of us who are dedicated to an inclusive community vision, where innovation and integrity are used to proactively
improve neighbor relations. It appears the City of Cape Canaveral is siding with and looking out for big business by
allowing and fostering the construct of more and more hotels. Where it seems people may care less about the
community and any vision it may have than cramming as many people as they can into each hotel, where they're not
held accountable for regulating their guests. Please do not allow poor leadership or poor business decisions to drive
responsibly diverse guests to find accommodations outside of Cape Canaveral, as many do not want to stay in hotels.
In reality, there are very few private vacation rental homes in Cape Canaveral compared to surrounding cities. The
Mayor and City Council are overstating a problem that is limited to a tiny handful of properties.
A more serious consideration, is the real occurrence of many problems at the City's other longer -term rental units. What
do call logs show, including severity of incidents, for the number of calls to the Sheriff's office regarding vacation rentals
relative to the number of calls received from other similar housing units in Cape Canaveral? I have personally seen
multiple officers and vehicles at apartment complexes near the Cape View Elementary School, where some structures
have been seen as unappealing and maintenance leave a lot to be desired. The guests we chose to share our home with
meet reasonable standards inside privacy laws and are duly more than required at hotels... they are appreciative of our
home and respectfully treat it with great consideration, as better than their own. They appreciate our security cameras
and have enjoyed staying in a home versus cold or seedy hotels.
The City would be overreaching into people's private homes and pockets to enact unreasonable requirements and
ordinances attacking those innovatively providing for their families. Thus, driving a wedge into the community, pitting
neighbor against neighbor while resulting in the ruin of Cape Canaveral's vision of community. There is no honorable or
good value to denying innovative home owners their right to be engaged and passionate about envisioning an easily
walkable and biking community. One that retains and enhances its welcoming residential feel, celebrating our unique
and small business friendly community that is open to everyone... Not just big business.
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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. Instead of utilizing vision to build a city of neighbors embracing culture, diversity,
and inclusion the City seems to be placing the interests of big business first, sadly, at the insurmountable cost and
destruction of your own people. It is disappointing to see our City leadership attacking small business owners by working
to limit vacation rental options and feasibility, you 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 hurting 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-19 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 the future of our community?
Problems described in the memorandum are already addressed under existing city statutes and should be enforce
therein. Please take any measures under serious consideration before making egregious decisions that will cause
severely negative impacts to your neighbors, small business innovators, and our community vision. Also, please be
reminded of our community's existence on the space program and how reliant we are to tourism... and how providing
more COVID-19 safe family options could be critical in drawing people to our Space Between... and how hotels cheapen
our skyline, block beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and restrict views of exciting and tourism drawing launches to space...
a myriad of hotels are clearly not part of our city's vision.
Sincerely and respectfully,
Paula Nosca Rosenberg
A loving home owner who wants to return to our unique Space Between.
Sent from my iPhone
Florida has a very broad public records law. As a result, any written communication created or received by the City of
Cape Canaveral officials and employees will be made available to the public and/or media upon request, unless
otherwise exempt. Under Florida Law, email addresses are public records. If you do not want your email address
released in response to a public -records request, do not send electronic email to this entity. Instead, contact our office
by phone or in writing.
Florida has a very broad public records law. As a result, any written communication created or received by the City of
Cape Canaveral officials and employees will be made available to the public and/or media upon request, unless
otherwise exempt. Under Florida Law, email addresses are public records. If you do not want your email address
released in response to a public -records request, do not send electronic email to this entity. Instead, contact our office
by phone or in writing.
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