- September 24, 2024
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Desperate for relief, some Palm Coast residents have formed a coalition together to help push for better management of vacation rentals that have become their live-in nightmare.
“Because they're not managing it well, we are having to do the management,” member Quin Cressey said. “We are having the stress.”
The Canal Community Coalition started in the C Section but has now grown to be close to 100 members strong. All of the members have at least one short-term vacation rental near their home.
Roger Cressey, Quin Cressey's husband, said they moved to Palm Coast for paradise, like many others in their organization.
“We've invested in paradise down here and found that paradise has got some got some problems," Roger Cressey said.
And it isn't just during the summer or spring break — it's all-year-round, Cressey said, with no set "peak" time.
But the short-term vacation rentals cause problems almost all year round: loud noises at all hours, every day of the week, trash sitting on the curb throughout the week, vehicles and trailers blocking the streets, and even threatening and retaliatory actions from the property owners and renters alike.
Roger Cressey, like other members of the CCC works from home. He said he can hear the yelling and screaming of vacationers at the rental across the canal from him for hours on end in his office, even while he is in the middle of the work day.
"It's pervasive," Quin Cressey said.
Palm Coast is in the process of building its own ordinance to regulate short-term vacation rentals. Members of the CCC said they'd like to see registration fees that are sizable enough to pay for sufficient enforcement from the city, as well as restrictions on the occupancy, parking, trailers and changes to the noise ordinances.
Safety standards should also be implemented. Roger Cressey said often the vacationers are speeding down the canals in "no wake" zones, hanging over the sides, or can be seen sitting in the pools during lightning storms. He said he's worried nothing will be done until someone is injured.
CCC member Eric Josten said the rentals are businesses, and act like hotels, and so should be held to the same standards, especially in a residentially zoned area of the city.
“If I want to open a business in my house, that's certainly my right to do that, but I can't open a gas station, right? I can't open a retail store in my house," Josten said. "So there are definitely business limitations that the short term rentals are getting around."
Josten said that while some cities may not have predicted the growth of these short-term vacation rentals through sites like Vrbo and AirBnb, Flagler County and Flagler Beach were able to anticipate the problems.
Both Flagler County and Flagler Beach have their own ordinances regarding short term vacation rentals.
Outlined in Flagler County Code 3.06.14, short term rentals in the county are considered commercial businesses. It does permit them in all residential-zoned areas, but exempts residences where the owner lives there full-time “as on an-premises permanent resident” and exempts unincorporated areas west of Highway U.S. 1.
Not only does the county require the owner apply for and receive a short-term vacation rental certificate from the county, but the ordinance requires owners to implement certain safety standards: requiring smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and a fire extinguisher; battery power emergency lighting to a primary exit; following Florida Building Code for sleeping rooms.
The county does not have a specific number for its maximum occupancy, but does require occupancy not exceed one person per 150 gross square feet of living space or two people per sleeping room, plus two additional people for sleeping in a common area.
The ordinance further requires an initial inspection when applying for a short-term rental certificate, and annually, when renewed.
Responsible parties must be available 24/7 to handle any issue that arise within two hours of the notification.
Flagler County charges $400 to register a short-term rental property. There are currently 63 properties registered with the county.
Flagler Beach, meanwhile, has 190 registered short-term rental properties. Any properties registered after the ordinance passed in 2008 are only in the commercial districts of the city. However, Flagler Beach's building department's Michele Ficocello said, any short-term rental that was in a residential area before the ordinance was enacted was grandfathered in.
The city requires a rental permit business tax receipt for all operators, which totals over $100, and are annually renewed. There are also several other fees they must pay: an application fee, a fire safety inspection fee and purchasing a tippy cart or trash can.
A 24/7 responsible party must also be available for the Flagler Beach rentals for emergencies.
Flagler Beach has a two people-per bedroom occupancy, plus allowing two additional persons per sleeper sofa, but not exceeding a total additional of four people. The dwellings also can not be rented for fewer than seven days at a time.
The ordinance can be difficult to enforce, though, Ficocello said. If a rental is not registered with the city but is advertised online, unless someone books the room and stays there and reports it, there’s not much the city can do.
“We have to prove it [is a short-term rental],” she said.
Despite the registration requirements, a search on AirBnB shows over 900 properties listed as vacation rentals in Flagler County, though some listed were from neighboring municipalities. A similar search on Vrbo turned up over 300 listings.
Palm Coast is proposing similar restrictions and fees, and also suggesting adding fines or consequences to those who violate the ordinance. To help enforce it, the city is looking to add one additional code enforcement officers.
Member Sheri Montgomery said that is not enough.
"This isn't an eight to five issue," Montgomery said. "This is a 24/7 issue, and to only increase [code enforcement] by one person, is not realistic, because that department is going to need to be responsive 24/7, seven days a week, 365 days a year."
