- November 7, 2024
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Flagler County officials plan to tell the state that they don't support the new vacation rental bills moving through the House and Senate — not even with an amendment proposed by Sen. Travis Hutson.
"The amendment will cost you more money in enforcement," County Administrator Craig Coffey told county commissioners at a workshop March 20.
The proposed House and Senate bills would bar municipalities from regulating vacation rentals. That would return counties to the legal landscape that existed between 2011 — when the state passed a law barring local regulation of rentals — to 2014, when Flagler County lobbied successfully to have the 2011 law repealed.
Sen. Travis Hutson proposed an amendment that would allow vacation rentals to be regulated, but only "provided such regulation applies uniformly to all residential properties without regard to whether the property is used as a vacation rental." Hutson's amendment also barred municipalities from banning vacation rentals or regulating their duration or frequency.
That would mean that to regulate vacation rentals without inviting accusations of selective enforcement, Coffey explained, the county would need to subject all rentals — apartment buildings, single-family homes rented out on year-long leases, condos — to the same regulatory requirements as vacation rentals that are rented out to 20 vacationers at a time.
"You will be inspecting a lot more apartments, condos and things like that," Coffey said. "You’re going to regulate a ton of people. … You’re back to the 2011 law. It's a little bit better, but you’re going to face issues in court."
If the county tried to regulate all rentals equally in order to curb nuisances associated with the vacation rentals, Coffey said, that would require adding staff members to handle the extra work.
And the state politicians debating the bills, he said, don't have any experience with being sued over vacation rentals — unlike Flagler County — and are hearing from people an entities who stand to gain from a repeal of the 2014 legislation.
"As far as being at the table, we are not at the table," Coffey said. "Airbnb is at the table, big money is at the table, there's a lot of folks at the table, but if you think Flagler County's at the table — we are on the outside looking in on this thing."
County Attorney Al Hadeed said the bills, even with Hutson's amendment, would make it near impossible for the county to defend any regulation of the rentals if the county were challenged in court.
"They are leading local government down a trap," he said. "I’m telling you, it’s bad. We might as well have the 2011 law."
The county's ordinance on vacation rentals, passed after the 2014 law, was intended to be "scalpel-like," regulating the short-term rentals without affecting long-term rentals like condos or single-family homes leased to long-term tenants, Hadeed said.
Under the proposed bills, he said, the county would not be able to inspect vacation rental properties to enforce state requirements for fire safety or pool safety. The state doesn't do that job either.
Hadeed suggested that if the bills advance, the county could fight them "tooth and nail." If it does, he said, it will have allies.
"There is a rising groundswell against what they are doing," he said. "More and more communities are becoming aware of this. There’s a large number of lobbyists that have been retained to handle this. It’s going to be a fist fight."
County Commissioner Greg Hansen agreed with Hadeed, saying he believed the county should prepare to fight the bill, and ask Hutson to withdraw his amendment.
"He’s trying to save something for Flagler County, but he’s wrong," Hansen said. "I think I’m in Al’s camp that we’ve got to tell him no."
Commissioner Donald O'Brien agreed.
Hadeed said there are benefits to opposing the bill entirely, even if it passes anyway.
"That is a powerful message that’s going resonate within that Senate chamber of how important that issue is," he said. "If there is a fire and people die or are seriously injured, that’s on their watch. Because they allowed it to happen."
Coffey said he thought the county should ask Hutson to withdraw the amendment and oppose the bills.
Commissioner Nate McLaughlin urged caution, comparing Hutson's amendment to the emergency life raft canisters on the back of ships.
"I am in full favor of let’s go for the jugular … but I think if we come out of this thing with nothing, we’re going to wish we had that canister on the back of the boat," he said. "It will give us a foundation to move forward in a future legislative session to move back to home rule, all home rule like it ought to be."
He pointed out that Hutson had proposed the 2014 bill when he was a House member, along with then-Sen. John Thrasher.
"This 2014 bill belongs to Mr. Hutson. It’s his baby," Mclaughlin said. "I think he’s very invested in keeping it alive. And if he says we need this canister on the back of the ship, I’m going to support him."
Even with the Huston amendment, Hadeed said, the county would not be able to enforce safety regulations, and it would not be able to enter residences for inspection without a search warrant.
The commission voted unanimously at its meeting the evening of March 21 to urge Hutson to withdraw the amendment and to oppose the vacation rental bills.
Coffey will send a letter stating the county's position on the vacation rentals bills and other proposed state bills to members of the Flagler County Legislative Delegation, the Executive Director of the Florida Association of Counties and the Florida City County Management Association.
