12301 Clover Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90066
September 13, 2001
Dear Mayor Smith and City Council members,
As owners of property in Avalon, we respectfully request that you do not pass the proposed ordinance for transient rentals drafted by your planning commission. We feel this ordinance is seriously flawed, redundant, and discriminatory. Please consider carefully the following points:
- The resolution states that "such occupancies cause increased traffic, parking, fire hazards, noise, density, and other impacts in residential areas…" This statement and others in the proposed ordinance appear to be based not on reports from the appropriate agencies, but rather on perceptions that your planning commission has embraced. Where are the "findings" that you are basing this proposal on? Did the City of Avalon conduct an official study and make its findings available for public scrutiny?
- Requirements for health and safety inspections proposed in this ordinance already exist in building codes in the city of Avalon and LA County. There is no need to duplicate these rules. The resolution also lays out a plan to register and charge each owner a fee to "cover the reasonable cost of processing the registration." There is nothing reasonable about adding a fee to a process that already includes $250 to apply for a CUP, $12 for a business license, and hefty city bed taxes.
- Owner-occupied properties, long-term rentals, transient rentals, and commercial properties should all share the responsibility of protecting the quality of life in Avalon. To single out transient rental units is absolutely discriminatory. Some measures in this proposed ordinance could also be determined as a "taking of property without just compensation." These are very real concerns that could put the City of Avalon at risk from costly and lengthy lawsuits in the years to come.
We suggest that as mayor and council members you focus on some of the many issues that are threatening the immediate future of Avalon such as: fresh water, the hospital, and the troubling drop in tourism we have experienced this past year. This ordinance is just unsound.
Sincerely,
Susan and Bill Scheding
225 Clarissa Ave
Avalon, CA