O2070
f:\atty\muni\laws\barry\rental housingext2d-1.wpd
City Council Meeting 3-25-2003 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2..0.& (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN INTERIM ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA
MONICA EXTENDING THE MORATORIUM ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF
AND CONVERSION TO SHORT-TERM HOUSING
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1 Findings and Purpose. The Council finds and declares:
(a) The proliferation of short-term rental housing can have a significant, detrimental
impact on the quality of life in the community.
(b) Short-term housing, also known as corporate housing, provides temporary
accommodations in fully furnished apartments complete with furniture, appliances,
housewares, and other furnishings.
(c) Short-term housing projects typically afford an array of conveniences and
services such as maid and linen service, laundry and dry cleaning service, on-site
conference or meeting rooms, business centers, and Internet access. Most short-term
housing facilities also offer a full health club, spa, large pool and tennis court. Projects
that do not offer these facilities on-site, often offer membership to area facilities.
1
(d) The average length of stay in short-term housing in the Los Angeles region is
eighty days. Nationally, the average is seventy-one days.
(e) The typical occupants of these facilities include: relocating executives requiring
temporary accommodations until a permanent residence is established, corporate recruits,
attorneys trying cases, and relocating families. This housing is also increasingly utilized
by vacationers. The occupants of these units do not intend to make these units their
permanent place of residence, but view these premises as interim abodes.
(f) The national short-term housing inventory increased dramatically during the
economic boom of the late 1990's and will continue to play a significant role in the
temporary housing industry notwithstanding the recent economic downturn
(g) Short-term housing also grew exponentially in Santa Monica. Some ofthe major
housing developments in the City that offer or will offer short term housing include the
Arboretum project with 253 units (excluding the 97 units deed restricted to affordable
housing), the Sea Castle with 133 units (excluding the 45 units deed restricted to affordable
housing), and Citrus Suites with a combined 171 unitsavailable at two separate locations.
(h) One of Santa Monica's primary housing goals is to preserve the quality and
character of its existing single and multi-family residential neighborhoods. Santa Monica's
prosperity has always been fueled by the area's many attractive features including its
cohesive and active residential neighborhoods and the diverse population which resides
therein. In order to continue to flourish, the City must preserve its character and charm
which result, in part, from the cultural, ethnic, and economic diversity of its resident
population.
2
(i) The City must also preserve its unique sense of community which derives, in
large part, from residents' active participation in civic affairs, including local government,
cultural events, and educational endeavors. Occupants of short-term housing do not and
cannot have the same involvement and ties to the community and to neighborhoods in
which they reside as occupants who treat the City and their neighborhoods as their home.
Short-term occupants are less likely to become active in civic, neighborhood, and
community affairs and events.
U) The City has adopted numerous regulatory measures intended to promote the
development of multi-family housing and ensures that this development is occupied by
individuals as their principle residence. The City never envisioned that these measures
would facilitate the development of short-term housing.
(k) The proliferation of short-term housing in the City is a recent phenomenon and
the City needs time to adequately assess the full impacts of this form of housing and its
appropriate scope and location within the City.
(I) In light of these concerns, the City Council adopted Ordinance Number
2011 (CCS) on May 22,2001 establishing a moratorium on the development of short-term
rental housing and the conversion of existing multi-family development to this form of
housing. The City Council extended Ordinance Number 2011 (CCS) on June 19, 2001
However, that ordinance will expire on June 19, 2003 unless extended prior to that date.
(m) For the reasons described above, the City Council finds that extension of the
moratorium on the development of and conversion to short-term housing is necessary
because the continuing development of this form of housing in the City prior to the City's
review of its housing and land use policies and regulations presents a current and
3
immediate threat to the public peace, health, safety, and welfare. If urgent action is not
taken, this form of development activity will continue unabated, thereby committing scarce
land resources to development that is not in the best interests of the residents of the City.
The approval of additional development of and the conversion to short-term housing in the
City pending the City's completion of its review of its housing and land use policies and
regulations would result in a threat to the public health, safety, and welfare. Consequently,
this ordinance extends the provisions of Ordinance Number 2011 (CCS) and Ordinance
Number 2012(CCS) for a period of one year, up to and including June 19, 2004, to provide
the City sufficient time to further evaluate and undertake appropriate actions to address
impact of short-term housing.
SECTION 2 Moratorium.
(a) Subject to Section 3 of this Ordinance, a moratorium is hereby placed on the
acceptance for processing of any applications for approval of tentative tract maps, tentative
parcel maps, administrative approvals, development review permits, conditional use
permits, design compatibility permits, zoning conformance, and building permits for any
residential building or structure that will be utilized as short-term housing in any district in
the City.
(b) Subject to Section 3 of this Ordinance, all applications which have not been
deemed complete as of May 22,2001, for approval of tentative tract maps, tentative parcel
maps, administrative approvals, development review permits, conditional use permits,
design compatibility permits, zoning conformance, and building permits for any residential
4
building or structure that will be utilized as short-term housing in any district in the City shall
be disapproved
(c) Subject to Section 3 of this Ordinance, no person shall convert property to short-
term housing without first obtaining a business license from the City's Business License
Division permitting this use.
(d) For purposes of this Ordinance, "short-term housing" shall be defined as rental
housing which has a combination of some but not necessarily all of the following attributes:
1. The property is designed for use by individuals who will reside on the property
for a minimum stay of at least 30 days, but who otherwise intend their occupancy to be
temporary.
2. The property is intended for use by persons who will maintain or obtain a
permanent place of residence elsewhere.
3. The property includes some or all of the following amenities:
(a) maid and linen service
(b) health club, spa, pool, tennis courts, or memberships to area facilities
(c) business service centers
(d) meeting rooms
(e) fully furnished units including a combination of some but not necessarily all of
the following: furniture, appliances, housewares, bed linens, towels, artwork, television
sets, stereos, VCRs, CD players, fax machines, and Internet access.
(f) valet parking
5
SECTION 3. Vested Rights. This Ordinance shall not be applicable to a property
in which the owner can establish a vested right to develop or operate a short-term housing
project.
SECTION 4, This Ordinance shall be of no further force and effect after June 19
,
2004, unless prior to that date, after a public hearing, noticed pursuant to Santa Monica
Municipal Code Section 9.04.20.22.050, the City Council, by majority vote, extends this
Interim Ordinance.
SECTION 5. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices
thereto inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such
inconsistencies and no further, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary to
effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 6. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this
Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any court
of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining
portions of this Ord inance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this
Ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion of the ordinance
would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional
6
SECTION 7. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall attest to the passage of
this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall cause the same to be published once in the official
newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become effective thirty
days after its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
~
7
~
State of California )
County of Los Angeles) ss.
City of Santa Monica )
Ayes: Council members: Feinstein, Mayor Pro Tem McKeown, Katz, Genser,
Holbrook, O'Connor, Mayor Bloom
Noes: Council members: None
Abstain: Council members: None
Absent: Council members: None
ATTEST:
, ---~
\uQ.;~ ~J-
Maria M. Stewart, ty Clerk