Questions from Dave Mason and Staff Responses Covered in Raun Keagy’s Presentation at the April 21, 2021 meeting

1. Can STR (short-term rental) use be defined as a business use? This would allow for easier, and fairer regulation, evening the difference between STRs and hotels. STR’s cannot be defined as a business use as means of skirting A.R.S. Section 9-500.39, the City may only regulate STR’s like any other residential property except for few specific exceptions.

2. Can regulation and enforcement of use and zoning (noise, welfare, maintenance, nuisance) be broadly applied to all rental properties? This would need to apply broadly to owner occupied residential properties as well.

3. Can failure to register be made subject to meaningful fines, beginning with the first occurrence, with no warnings and no grace period? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Our practice is to encourage voluntary compliance on city code violations. The City deals with thousands upon thousands of violations each year and the vast majority are resolved without having to issue a citation. Issuing citations immediately would be counterproductive because it is resource intensive and if we lose, we are subject to attorney fees. We now would be engaging the court and potentially a prosecutor. Cities are limited to the amount of fines that can be collected and it generally costs more to prosecute a case than the fines that would be brought in. Additionally, we have achieved 100% compliance upon issuing a notice of violation.

4. Can advertising with valid TPT license register be made subject to meaningful fines, beginning with the first occurrence, with no warnings and no grace period? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. The failure to list a TPT license is a state violation so it is up to the state to impose penalties. We do use SRC 18-151(A) for this purpose. The vacation rental must at all times comply with all federal, state, and local laws, rules and regulations related to public health, safety, sanitation, solid waste, hazardous waste, traffic control, pollution control, noise, property maintenance, and nuisance abatement. The owner of the vacation rental shall be deemed responsible for any violation of such laws, rules, and regulations occurring on the vacation rental property.

5. Can use for large special events be made subject to meaningful fines, beginning with the first occurrence, with no warnings and no grace period? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. By state law the maximum fine the City can impose on any matter is $2,500 per violation. Fines cannot be increased beyond that level. We also must always provide due process on any fines/ citations. While it may seem an attractive option to impose maximum fines, this much more likely to result in litigation and create a drag on resources. 6. Can health and safety and fire regulation compliance and inspection be implemented for STRs, since they house the public? STRs are not public accommodations but residential properties and they are only subject to the same fire and health standards as owner occupied residential properties.

7. Can the City require screening of all occupants to ensure none are on the registered sex offender list? Can the City require American with Disability Act compliance, since STRs are places of public accommodation? The City cannot require screening of sex offenders. These properties are residences not public accommodations. They are the same as long-term rentals.

8. Can online service providers be fined for allowing non-registered STRs? The are contributing to the problem. Contributory negligence is not an excuse. We do not have the authority to fine online service providers for listing unregistered STRs.

CURRENT REGULATORY AND ENFORCEMENT FRAMEWORK – CITY OF SCOTTSDALE

1. Can exceeding maximum family size of 6 adults (and their related dependent children) or non- residential use, be made subject to meaningful fines, beginning with the first occurrence, with no warnings and no grace period? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Exceeding more than 6 people overnight is very difficult to prove. Yes, a citation could be issued if there is enough proof, but ultimately it is up to the court to decide what fine to impose.

2. Can advertising the states or implies exceeding maximum family size of 6 adults (and their related dependent children) or non-residential use, be made subject to meaningful fines, beginning with the first occurrence, with no warnings and no grace period? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Advertising more than six people is not technically a citable violation because we must be able to prove that more than six people actually spent the night at a location. That is not enough evidence to issue a citation as you need to physically place the violators there and an inspector has to be able positively identify a violator, only then would it be enough to issue a notice of violation.

3. Can failure to have a Transaction Privilege Sales Tax and a Transient Tax liability, be registered with Maricopa County IAW ARS 33-1902, and register with City of Scottsdale and provide the name and contact information of a person designated as an emergency contact, as well as contact information for owner or owner’s designed for responding to complaints be made subject to meaningful fines, beginning with the first occurrence, with no warnings and no grace period? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. 4. Can nuisance party and unlawful gatherings be made subject to meaningful fines, beginning with the first occurrence, with no warnings and no grace period? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. We could stop issuing notices of violations and trying to assess service fees and instead issue citations. The imposed fine would be determined by the court.

5. Can Nuisance party 18-123 fines be increased and no grace? Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Fines cannot exceed more than $2,500 and a fine can only be determined by the court. The City cannot assess fines without a court hearing. Services fees can be assessed and billed but require administrative due process hearings.

6. Can property owners be made responsible for all fines related to their property incurred by occupants, tenants, lodgers.. This way, the property can be leined for non- payment? It would makes owners go after tenants. Fine tenants with on the spot, or go to jail, no grace Jail is not appropriate mechanism for people failing to pay civil fines. Property owners cannot be held responsible for what happens on their properties unless they have knowledge ahead of time of the violations by the tenants.

7. Can Police Service Fee 18-126 be doubled or tripled? The police service fee can never exceed $2,500. There also needs to be some rational relationship to the costs associated with responding to these incidents.

WHAT OTHER CITIES ARE DOING

1. What is involved with using a third-party provider to track STRs?

Currently researching.

2. Can non-owner occupied STRs be restricted?

Non-owner STRs cannot be restricted pursuant to 9-500.39.

3. What about other states – e.g., San Francisco, the home of Airbnb, banned STRs.

Cities in other states have more authority than we do to deal with STRs.