Plan aims to soften city’s ban

When Las Vegas moved to ban short-term housing rentals in residential zones earlier this year, it caught local homeowners and real estate professionals by surprise.

The goal was to crack down on "party houses" that are rented to out-of-towners who make no distinction between a quiet cul-de-sac and one of the party floor suites at the Palms.

But city leaders didn't realize there was a thriving and diverse market for people needing short-term housing, said Cherrell Tarantino, president of Executive Locations Realty.

"We're driven by demand," said Tarantino, who described the market as a small percentage of her overall business. "There's all these great people out there.

"They didn't know we existed. We didn't know this was coming about."

The Las Vegas City Council passed the ban, 4-2, in November.

One of the proposal's initial sponsors, though, wants to revisit the ordinance so that short-term rentals would be allowed under certain conditions.

"It will not change the current bill, which prohibits what we all want to prohibit -- the so-called 'rave' parties," said Councilman Steve Wolfson, who ended up voting against the ordinance because he said it went too far.

"It will allow certain short-term rentals that are appropriate."

Wolfson's amendment would require property owners to get a conditional use permit, renewed annually, if they wanted to rent a house for less than 31 days. There would be a nominal use permit fee.

Owners would also have to:

•Collect lodging taxes.

•Ensure compliance with noise and parking rules.

•Designate a property manager or agent who can respond quickly to complaints.

The city would also have the ability to limit outdoor activities at the property and set a maximum number of occupants.

"It's a much more reasonable way of approaching it," Tarantino said. "By passing that bill, they were blanketing the whole industry because of a few properties that were being abused."

The stories of those abused properties sparked the council to action. Residents talked about loud, late-night parties, trash thrown into neighboring yards, dozens of cars blocking streets and driveways and, in one case, an advertisement for hookers mounted in a house's garage visible from the street.

The new ordinance is being used to address those problems, said Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian, who was also a prime mover in getting the ban passed.

She said she hasn't looked closely at Wolfson's proposal, but that she knew he would be presenting something.

"This isn't a contentious thing," she said. "It's just a disagreement as to how far it should go.

"There were concerns that we didn't want to hurt people who owned homes."

Still, Tarkanian said she's also concerned about allowing commercial activity in residential areas.

"These are businesses," she said of the rented homes. "It chips away at residential neighborhoods. In my ward, you have some very significant concerns about that."

Short-term housing customers aren't just bachelor party-goers, Tarantino said -- they are families waiting to close on a house, for example, or businessmen who want a quieter place to work while in town. And sometimes people are vacationing in Las Vegas and just want a buffer from the resort corridor.

At November's council meeting, council members heard protests from real estate professionals as well as retirees who were worried about losing retirement income from investment properties.

Although there are laws against some of the behavior reported at the party houses, the city previously lacked the legal teeth to penalize property owners for not controlling what happens on their property.

Tarantino said the city's reaction was "knee-jerk," but acknowledged that the problem houses needed to be addressed.

"I have always self-regulated, but I do agree that something needed to be done," she said. "There were people out there doing abusive things, and unfortunately the government sometimes has to step in."

Wolfson's proposal likely will be considered in January by a council subcommittee, which could send it before the full City Council.

The ban applies only in areas zoned residential. Henderson and Clark County have enacted similar restrictions.

Enforcement is complaint-based, meaning that houses where guests don't rile the neighbors usually don't attract scrutiny.

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or (702) 229-6435.