Fact check: This is in regard to the guest opinion column by Tom Blackman “Vacation rentals need enforcement” in the Sept. 6 Sun Newspaper.
Tom Blackman’s vacation rental concerns are listed in bold with my rebuttal following in plan text:
1. The small town atmosphere will be lost to the renters. Summer rentals have been going on for decades and we have not lost the small town atmosphere.
2. Residents’ comfort will be lessened by out of town group’s activities. What are you talking about in regards to activities?
3. Outsiders bring their own positive and negative values with them. Could you name a few so we can assess them?
4. Looking at Seal Beach as a party destination leads people to think that anything goes because they pay a lot of money for the party house in Seal Beach.
Many people look at Seal Beach as a quiet beach as opposed to Huntington Beach and enjoy the quiet as much as the residents do. They feel it is worth the extra money to rent a place with a homey atmosphere and a small town where you can walk to restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner, to say nothing about its closeness to Disney Land the Angels Ball Park and the Long Beach Aquarium among other things.
Most weekly renters seem to enjoy basking in the sun on the beach or swimming in the ocean. Many come pale and leave tanned.
5. Absentee landlords do not supervise the vacation rentals. Then the police should let them know that they can’t get away with such reckless renting practices.
6. Vacation renters do spend money in Seal Beach but so do residential homeowners. Some of the money spent by the renters is for parties that do not support the small town atmosphere idea.
A lot of the residents also spend money for parties that do not support the small town atmosphere as you call it.
The vacation renters spend a lot more money at restaurants daily than most residential homeowners and renters.
7. There is no way to know the background, good or bad, of the renters who will come into our city. Some might even commit crimes because residents may feel safe and criminals can take advantage of this attitude.
In the case of any renters, the landlord has them fill in rental forms that can provide a background check. In case the applicant does not make a good case, then the landlord denies their application.
It is true for full time or vacation time renters.
8. Landlords who live outside of the city do not supervise the property so the supervision of the vacation rentals will be left to the Seal Beach Police Department who will be asked to enforce local rules some that are very vague.
The police have to supervise any rental that is causing a problem in the neighborhood.
The local rule of noise or other problems are the same no matter how long the rental is for, it also includes residents even if they own their property.
9. Law enforcement comes with a cost to the community in taxes and inconvenience.
The people that do weekly rentals pay 12.5 cents per dollar in taxes and have to pay $250 for a business license.
The ones that follow the city rules are also careful to whom they rent.
Wouldn’t it have been better to fine or in some wise punish the absentee owners that caused the problem instead of losing the taxes that the weekly rentals bring in?
I for one will not jump through the hoops that the city has set up instead of punishing the offenders.
The city has lost a lot of business that my out-of-state weekly renters did in Seal Beach plus the dollars that I paid in taxes for the same.
10. “My wife, Barbara, and I want to keep the city of Seal Beach a small town, residential community and do not want it to turn into a vacation rental Mecca.
“We do not want to have the house next door turned into a vacation rental. That kind of a ‘business’ for profit does not keep the ‘small town atmosphere’ we love. Please help maintain our most valuable asset. Thank you for listening.“
How long have you lived here and not noticed the weekly summer rentals were going on? It has been going on since I came to Seal Beach in 1965 and before.
It has never been a problem until one building was not supervised and the city decided to crack down on all who were complying with the rules.
It would cost me over $2,000 to file the plan and a lot of inconvenience.
Those large absentee owners can afford to spend the money, so they will be doing most of the weekly rentals in my area now.
I do expect to get a profit from the units that I rent.
Isn’t that the idea of having rentals?
Betty Hutchens is a longtime owner/resident of Seal Beach.
