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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0739.097 2016-2018EPLC m�u l08 From: Kim, Harry To: charla thompson Cc: Council Testimony; Planning Internet Mail Subject: RE: Bill 108 draft 2 revisions Date: Friday, June 01, 2018 3:28:43 PM Attachments: Bill 108 Draft 2 revisions.pddf Aloha Charla, Thank for your providing thoughtful feedback on Bill 108. 1 have forwarded your comments to the Council as public testimony and to the Planning Department. As with all public testimony, they will weigh your concerns and suggestion as they try to craft the best ordinance for short, term vacation rentals. Thank you for caring. Harry Kim From: charla thompson[mailto:charlaphotography@gmail.com] = -- Sent: Friday, June 01, 2018 2:28 PMS p- , To: Kim, Harry <Harry.Kim @hawaiicounty.gov> Subject: Fwd: Bill 108 draft 2 revisions it Aloha Mayor Kim so appreciated your comments at the County Council meeting last month. Yes, short term rental is big business, sadly at the expense of their neighbors. I am a 33 year resident of Kona and a stage 4 cancer survivor. I, my husband and daughter were at that meeting to give testimony on how our neighbor's short term vacation rental is effecting our neighborhood and our family, personally. We are desperate to find protections in this bill. With Draft 2, some of these protections have been deleted. I have spent several days trying to come up with some helpful suggestions of what might be built into this bill to protect hundreds of us trying desperately to live our lives next door to a small hotel. I will be in Oahu getting an MRI on June 5th and will not be able to give testimony in Hilo at the next county council meeting. I have sent the following pdf. to the council members, but wanted you to read it as well. I feel you are an advocate of our way of life and keeping aloha in our neighborhoods. Subject: Residents negatively affected by this new trend of short term vacation rentals must have protections built into Bill (108) Attached is a letter concerning Bill 108 draft 2 revisions. Please Comm. No. 3�1. Ref. To: p�- Ref. Date JUN 0 5 Z011 take time to read it. We, the Island's long term residents, desperately need your assistance and` measures within this bill, to protect our rights as homeowners, renters, business owners, all hard-working taxpayers who make up your voting base. Mahalo, Charla Thompson Charla Photography charlaphotography com 808-322-7727 Subject: Residents negatively affected by this new trend of short term vacation rentals must have protections built into this Bill (108) • Residents negatively affected by this new trend of short term vacation rentals must have protections built into this Bill (108), as was intended by the Mayor's office in their original draft. Draft 2 has crossed out and amended some of these important ,protections. • The more ambiguous your definitions and the Bill's wording, the less protection is provided to the permanent, long term residents We desperately need your assistance and measures within this bill, to protect our rights as homeowners, renters, business owners, all hard-working taxpayers who make up your voting base. • For every short term rental in a neighborhood, there are up to five long term residents immediately affected by their disruption. We live and work from these neighborhoods. Below are specific changes I would like to see. Words shown in bold have been deleted in the current draft and should be incorporated in the next draft. 1. Reinstate the concept of Good Standing in Draft 2-Section2-25-4-b. Require they were without fine or penalties, in the previous 2 tax years, including property taxes. • These are public record and not an issue of privacy. If not in good standing, the nonconforming use certificate should not be issued, and, if the business is already operating, should be revoked. Why should short term vacation rental owners be rewarded for knowingly breaking the law and defrauding the county or state of tax monies.. Good character is a precursor to being an honest business, compliant to both taxes and good neighbor requirements. Fines and penalties are too easily paid by these business operations from the substantial amounts charged for short term vacation rentals. Revoke the privilege. • Draft 2-25-4-b "The applicant seeking a short-term rental nonconforming use certificate... shall have the burden of proof in establishing that the .property was in use" (and in good standing). • In the explanations of the provisions in Bill 108 from. the Mayor's office on April 23, 2018 stated under the heading, "What will be the` process to become `a legal short-term vacation rental, point #3: Pg. 1 "Submit a nonconforming certificate application if located in an un -permitted district with the following information: evidence of proper tax licenses (e.g. GET, TAT), Property tax, State tax, good standing certificates..." And Draft 2-2-25-4-c If the special permit has been denied ... the nonconforming use certificate shall not be issued and the short term vacation rental operation must immediately cease. 2. Incorporate a Good Neighbor Policy into the requirements for owners of existing short term vacation rentals to obtain a nonconforming certificate. • Short term rental must be free of police report and director's office complaints or submit evidence of being a good neighbor in the form of signed statements from their affected neighbor(s). • Short Term Vacation Rental Owners who have been a bad neighbor, should not get a "free" first year before their standing as a Good Neighbor is considered. 3. Reinstate the prior wording in Draft 1 -section 2-25-4-c, restricting nonconforming use certificates for ag lands to building sites in existence prior to June 4, 1976. • Draft 1 25-4-c: Special -Per-mit. Agricultural lands. "A short-term rental nonconforming use certificate may be issued for lots located in the State land use agricultural district {only if} the building site was in existence prior to June 4, 1976. • Many residential areas are classified as ag lands, ie. RA. The reference to June 41 1976 is now meaningless and confusing as the deletion of the words "only if" took out all protective language. Nonconforming use certificates are now readily available ("grandfathered" in) for those short term rentals in use prior to July 20, 2018, with no protection for the neighbors adversely affected by the short term vacation rentals. • Furthermore, if I am forced to move from my home to escape the small hotel business next door, o My property's sell -ability and value is vastly reduced. No one who buys my house would want to live here, next to a hotel. Buyers would want to vacation rental it, but cannot. o I, myself am not permitted to use that home as a short-term vacation rental, since my short term rental business has not been operational prior to July 20, 2018. ref: Draft 2 -section 2-25-4-a. This is discrimination. 4. The Good Neighbor Policy built into Draft 2 is an excellent addition. I would suggest several specifics that would support the concept. • The number of guests allowed in the vacation rentals and shown in their advertisements should be predicated on the permitted house plans and limited to 2 guests per actual bedroom and one or at most two additional guest with a sofa bed. • Properties 5 acres or larger with a property boundary less than 50 yards from a pool or other disruptive element should provide sound mitigation. (25 yds minimum distance for smaller properties). Argument: My neighbor's short term vacation rental pool and hot tub are merely 15 feet from my property line. I am in an RA zoned district. • If "single Family" is designated in the district zoning or CC&Rs of a neighborhood, the short term vacation rental must abide by that definition in practice and in their advertisements. [Single family is defined by the county as "...related by blood, marriage or adoption, or 5 not so related persons" In my cc&rs, it is 3 not so related. Both are consistently abused by my neighbor's short term vacation rental.] • A process needs to be established to report abuse of single family restrictions or over -crowding of a short term vacation rental. • Septic system must be adequate for the number of guests staying in the residence in practice and in their advertisements. • No nonconforming use certificates permitted in neighborhoods with private roads. Multiplied traffic resulting from vacation renters and the service providers required to support increased usage, incurs an additional burden of expense to the permanent residents living there and responsible for their maintenance. I` understand there may have to be exceptions where greater than 51% of all neighborhood roads are private, as in Puna district. I appreciate that there is an effort to address this issue that is so negatively impacting our Island. Charla Thompson 76-872 Io Kualua Place Kailua Kona, Hawaii 96740 808-987-5063 Pg. 3