Indian Rocks Beach Residents Continue Grappling With Vacation Rentals

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, FL — The Indian Rocks Beach City Commission is continuing to try to balance residents' objections over problematic short-term vacation rentals in neighborhoods with state law that permits, and some say encourages, short-term vacation rentals.

At its workshop Wednesday that attracted a full house, city commissioners reviewed a first draft of proposed amendments to the city's ordinance regulating short-term vacation rentals suggested by Trask Daigneault Attorneys who'd been retained by the city.

For the third time since November, they also heard from residents and property managers and owners of vacation rentals on the issue the city has been grappling with since last summer when residents began complaining about loud parties, parking problems, homeowners being harassed, trash left behind by those renting vacation homes and strangers wandering neighborhood streets.

With the growing popularity of global vacation rental companies like Airbnb and Vrbo that allow residents to earn extra money by renting out their homes to visitors on a short-term basis, beach communities like Indian Rocks Beach have experienced a sharp increase in vacation rentals in residential areas where beach cottages, bed and breakfasts, motels and hotels aren't permitted.

It's an issue that John Pfanstiehl, who has lived on Harbor Drive North for 30 years, has been struggling with for seven years. He said his once-quiet single-family neighborhood has been taken over by short-term rentals. There are 50 short-term rental properties on his street alone, he said.

"That's way too many. How did we get short-term rentals in the first place in residential areas?" he asked commissioners. "I can't believe we have to explain why transient shouldn't be living neighbors."

Related: Short-Term Rental Issue Expected To Pack Indian Rocks Beach Meeting

Florida Senate Bill 356, passed in 2014, allows property owners and managers to rent out apartments, homes and condominiums to Florida vacationers provided they receive the approval of the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation. And the state law bans local governments from passing ordinances that would prohibit vacation rentals.

While counties and cities can't pass their own laws superseding the state, the current state ordinance is written in such a way that counties and cities have significant leeway in setting their own rules and regulations for short-term vacation rentals.

Following the example of other Florida beach towns, Indian Rocks Beach wants to take advantage of that leeway to reign in raucous short-term renters "located within established neighborhoods that disturb the quiet enjoyment of the neighborhood" with noise, vandalism, people trespassing, people urinating in public and litter.

Randy Mora of Trask Daigneault Attorneys advised the city to approach its revisions to the Indian Rocks Beach ordinance from a public safety standpoint.

Unlike full-time residents who are familiar with building code restrictions, hurricane procedures and traffic patterns, Mora said vacationers may be unaware of actions to take during a severe weather watch or warning, "thereby increasing potential risks to themselves and their families, and putting an additional burden on, and potentially putting at risk, emergency personnel."

The attorney recommended that the city have property owners apply for and pay a fee to register their vacation rentals with the city annually in addition to the state requirement to license rentals with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Additionally, he suggested that all vacation rentals undergo an annual inspection to ensure the rental meets fire and life safety standards as well as building codes. This would include having the owner submit an exterior site plan and interior structural plan of the rental as well as a plan outlining where renters will park, mandating at least one parking space per bedroom for single-family homes.

Addressing the issues that most concern permanent residents, the commission also wants property owners to provide renters with conduct rules, a copy of the city's solid waste collection schedule and enforce a "quiet time" between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Additionally, the city ordinance would limit the number of people who can stay in a short-term vacation rental based on the number of bedrooms (two per bedroom), plus two people allowed to sleep in a common area, with a limit of 10 people in a residential district and 12 to 14 people in a commercial district.

Nevertheless, residents expressed skepticism that the revised ordinance will solve the problem.

Lifelong Pinellas County resident Beth Crisler, who has lived in her Indian Rocks Beach neighborhood for 31 years, posted a Youtube video outlining her concerns. She said the problem isn't the neighbors who want to make some extra money renting their homes out through Airbnb on an occasional weekend.

Instead, she said Florida's growing popularity has resulted in a flock of out-of-state investors swooping in and buying up homes for sale specifically to use as short-term rentals.

Now surrounding her home that sits on a cul-de-sac in a quiet single-family neighborhood is a home purchased by Nashville, Tennessee, investors who advertise that the home can sleep up to 16 people. Another nearby home purchased by Michigan investors advertises that it can accommodate 14 people. Five houses down is a home purchased by Ohio investors advertising room for up to 12 people. A short distance in the other direction are homes purchased by Massachusetts and Missouri investors that sleep 10 and eight people.

"That's 60 strangers on a cul-de-sac a few feet from our home," said Crisler. "This number doesn't include the rest that are on our little street a little farther away. I have been told, if I don't like it, I can just leave. The state of Florida and those who run it have taken our quiet, residential neighborhoods from us and replaced it with what are essentially hotels."

She fears the problem will only worsen. She believes a proposed bill to be considered by the state Legislature when it convenes Tuesday will take more control away from local governments to regulate short-term rentals.

State Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-St. Petersburg, is sponsoring Senate Bill 714. A quick read-through of the bill indicates that it will require advertising platforms to collect taxes and require certain information in ads for vacation rentals.

However, the Florida League of Cities said the bill is more insidious than the convoluted text makes it sound.

If passed, the league said it will not only maintain the current prohibition on local governments adopting zoning ordinances prohibiting short-term rentals but would expand preemptions by the state. Cities that aren't grandfathered, that is, those that haven't adopted a short-term rental ordinance prior to June 1, 2011, would be restricted from licensing short-term rentals.

It would also limit fees collected by cities to register a short-term vacation rental to $50 for an individual application and $100 for a collective application.

"It (the bill) is not needed and will further damage home rule," Crisler said.

On the other side of the issue, residents who make a living from short-term rentals say their livelihood is at stake.

Property managers have flooded Indian Rocks Beach social media platforms with warnings that the "IRB city commissioners are pushing a severe ordinance that will plunge your home value by restricting short-term rentals. This untested policy will also decimate local small businesses and harm our community's financial stability. Don't let anti-community extremists bully their way into devaluing your real estate investment."

Indian Rocks Beach Realtor Adrienne Dauses said the claim is nonsense.

"Ignore the negativity that some local groups are sending text messages out to Indian Rocks Beach residents," she wrote to neighbors on Facebook. "Speaking as a real estate agent who sells our city, we are very strong with our home values. Don't fall for this noise of unintelligent rumors or assumptions."