Party houses, unruly gatherings targeted

For more than an hour Monday, three Las Vegas City Council members discussed stricter regulations for short-term rentals in an effort to rid neighborhoods of boisterous party houses.

The proposed ordinance was amended to remove a requirement for a special use permit which would cost $1,030, the aspect of the bill that lobbyist Jay Brown objected to on behalf of his clients.

“That’s what he (Brown) wanted,” Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian said. “They don’t want people to know they’re there,” she said, referring to those who rent out houses for less than 31 days as short-term vacation rentals.

But with almost no discussion, the three councilmen then recommended passage of a second bill that would add “unruly gatherings” to the city’s public nuisance regulations. Eight people or more on a residential property engaged in certain behaviors could be an unruly gathering. This ordinance would affect masses of people while giving city officials more power to enforce ordinances against party houses and parties in general.

Tarkanian sponsored both ordinances, which will be heard by the full city council Sept. 3.

Tarkanian said she was pleased the proposed ordinance won the backing of the recommending committee consisting of Ricki Barlow, Stavros Anthony and Bob Coffin. She will try to reverse the decision to eliminate the requirement of a special use permit before the full council, because staff says the permit gives them stronger regulatory powers.

People who rent properties for fewer than 30 days insisted not every short-term rental is a party house. And not every party house is a short-term rental as homeowners can and do throw noisy, raucous parties.

Lack of enforcement by police and city officials is the major complaint of neighbors who live near party houses.

In her gated neighborhood, Tarkanian said, there was a plastic surgeon who rented out a party house, and later in the evenings “whores” would arrive. The audience was taken aback to hear that word out of her mouth, thinking she was saying “horses,” so she spelled the word.

Flinn Fagg, the city’s director of planning, said two more code enforcement officials are being hired to work weekends so one will be on call every weekend, instead of every other weekend.

If the regulations are approved by the full council, city licensing officials would be able to authorize civil violations, which they cannot do now.

Coffin said the “unruly gathering” ordinance, with civil and criminal penalties, is needed to enforce the party house ordinance. It would allow city officials to disband an unruly gathering.

The new language defines “unruly” as including problems on public rights-of-way, including parking, traffic, obstruction, intoxication, violence, noise disturbances, litter, illegal possession or consumption of controlled substances and urinating or defecating in area visible to the public.

Contact Jane Ann Morrison at jmorrison@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0275. Find her on Twitter: @janeannmorrison.