Councilwoman proposes ordinance targeting party houses

For more than four years, Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian has been trying to get a grip on party houses in residential neighborhoods. She’s upset that children can look into neighboring homes and see people having sex and that a code enforcement officer saw a room of naked men when trying to enforce the existing code.

Her latest attempt was dismissed Monday by high-powered lobbyist Jay Brown, representing short-term rental businesses, as an ordinance “that needs work.”

Even the people she is trying to help, the neighbors near a party house at 616 Campbell Drive south of Alta Drive, said Tarkanian’s proposed ordinance wouldn’t help them unless there was more emphasis on enforcement.

The recommending committee considering the bill opted to postpone action and hear it again Aug. 18 in conjunction with another Tarkanian bill regarding nuisances. The nuisance bill would include unruly gatherings on residential property as a public nuisance punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and/or six months in jail.

As currently written, the party house bill would require that short-term residential rentals for less than 31 days get a license and pay a $500 fee. It set out a series of other requirements.

Representatives for people who handle short-term rentals showed up Monday to object to the ordinance, insisting that very few short-term rentals are party houses. They said the people who rent these homes are there for reunions or are business people, poker players, athletes and film industry people. They argued that very few are party houses and that ordinances already exist to handle the problem. The “draconian measures” in the proposed ordinance will drive short-term rental companies out of business, one businessman said.

Tarkanian insisted party houses are more prevalent than just the one at 616 Campbell Drive, which is owned by Nigel Burton and caused neighbors Jewel Dixon and Patricia Flick to complain. Burton, who lives in Washington, bought the five-bedroom home for $600,000 in 2011. It rents out for $15,000 a month on sites including Hotpads.com. Crystal Properties handles the rentals.

Dixon said the neighbors want peace and tranquility, but nobody enforces the existing ordinances — not the owners, the property managers, the police or the city’s code enforcement. “The proposed ordinance is a joke. You are just wasting our time and taxpayers’ money.”

“All we’re asking for is a little assistance,” Flick said.

“The ordinance as written is no good,” said Karen Sommer of Las Vegas Vacation &Short Term Rentals. She estimated there are about 150 short-term rentals within city limits and 1,700 across all of Clark County.

A man who declined to give his name to the Review-Journal said, “People who own their own homes will not be prohibited from having parties. All the things you’re trying to regulate already have ordinances to stop them.”

Short-term rentals require permits, but unless the ordinance is passed, they won’t require licensing, said Director of Planning Flinn Fagg.

Councilman Bob Coffin’s suggestion that the license be revoked at the Campbell Drive party house won’t work unless the bill requiring licensing instead of special permits is passed by the City Council, Fagg said.

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