Editorial from March 29, 2007

"Private Home Rental triangle"

By Danielle Seckler

   A week ago, the Big Bear Lake City Council voted to have the Private Home Rental (PHR) ordinance placed on the November 2008 ballot. The ballot initiative had enough signatures collected and the City Council had only two choices; accept the ordinance as it was written or send it to the people. Jim and Barbara Mc Lean, owners of Apples Bed and Breakfast, were the instrumental force behind the initiative and it was written by Dixie Allison.

   There are three sides to the issue; the second homeowners and the property management companies, the lodging industry, and the people who live next to the privately owned hotels. Make no mistake, a PHR is a hotel. By definition, transient occupancy is when a person or persons rents a place to say for less than 30-days. Therefore, no matter what someone says, any home rented for people to stay in for less than 30-days is the same as any hotel room anywhere in the world.

   For those who are licensed by the city, county and/or state to sell lodging, it can be difficult. All the mentioned agencies have laws on the books, to protect the public’s health and safety. A public pool or spa must be built to certain regulations, licensed, and inspected regularly before anyone from the public can use them. All of these public protections cost money to the lodging owners. The reasons for so many regulations are usually caused by some kind of problem and this was the solution from the government. No one likes having the government involved in their business or how it is run; it is just part of doing business.

   Second homeowners believe that they have the right to rent their home to whomever they wish and we agree. However, there should be standards and the public has the right to be protected. Not every home is fit for the public’s use. Most of the people who ask for cabins, believe they will be just that a rustic cabin and not just another house that could be built in suburbia, no matter how many trees there are. Renting a PHR allows family groups the option of being able to watch over their children, without having to have multiple rooms with one adult in each room, as they would have to in a hotel. However, there isn’t a manager who doesn’t have a horror story about patrons trying to save money and over crowding a unit and they can be disruptive to other people at a hotel or PHR. The fact of life is that people lie to hotel managers and private home rental agencies equally.

   The third side to this triangle is the residents in valley. There isn’t one person in this valley that hasn’t heard or knows of a full time resident with a problem PHR. There are noise, trash, parking, and just general annoyance of the PHRs. People who move here believed that they were moving to quiet neighborhoods, where the Sheriff’s department and city ordinances would keep their neighborhoods just that – quiet and peaceful.

   Many of these problems could have been solved years ago, if the leadership would have been strong enough to lead. Each problem mention could have had an ordinance to correct the problem. Back in 2004, we were present when then city manager Michael Perry told the PHR industry that if they didn’t take the problems residents were saying seriously, it would go to a ballot and they would lose. No one listened. It was only when enough signatures were collected, that the PHR industry started to try to make things right by the residents with the 24/7 complaint line. Had the leaders of Big Bear Lake made an ordinance that the 24/7 telephone line was mandatory and real enforcement had occurred, the residents wouldn’t have signed the ballot initiative. Parking tickets, trash collection, and noise ordinances would have resolved the bulk of the problems.

   No one can blame just this City Council. This has been going on for years and all of the previous councils did little to correct the problem. In fact, it seemed that if a resident stood up against the PHR industry, they were not protected in the public forum by the city council. Now there seems like there is no way back. All three sides are now pitted against each other by lack of trust or self serving interests. The PHR industry wants to keep the goose that laid the golden egg. The lodging industry wants back the renters that now go to the PHRs and they want the same regulations as the PHRs. The residents want peace and quiet in their neighborhoods, without having to be the PHR police. The latter of the three are the only people who get to vote.

   The ordinance that will be on the ballot in 2008 may not be the best way to solve the solution. Not being lawyers, we have no idea if it is entirely legal. Many have told us that there will be a legal challenge if the voters approve the ordinance. What we are sure of is that the residents have been left mostly out of the equation. Both the Sheriff and fire departments have been no help. The City has been no help. This has left the people angry and frustrated. If the election was held this year, we are sure it would pass, no matter what the consequences would be. There is talk now of another City committee to try and resolve the issues. Only time will tell, if enough can be done before the 2008 election to smooth over the anger, that festers below the surface.

   Our City officials should remember this and take charge in the future. Don’t let a problem continue, until nothing you say or do will make a difference. Our City Council has lost a large amount of credibility over this issue and it will take years before the residents don’t see their City Council as the enemy.

Back to Front Page