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Clearwater Beach landlords fight ordinance

By MIKE DONILA
Published April 4, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Jim Damaske] Helen Dexter strains to hear a question from City Attorney Leslie Dougall-Sides on Tuesday. A group of Clearwater Beach property owners is suing the city, saying they should be allowed to continue to rent homes for less than a month at a time. Dexter said her family has rented out their property for many years.

Saying the city of Clearwater never enforced its short-term rental ban until 2003, a group of longtime landlords finally faced the city in court Tuesday in an effort to continue leasing their homes to vacationers.

At issue is whether more than 30 houses along the affluent north beach can be rented for less than a month.

The city contends it has long outlawed short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods but acknowledges that it didn't define "short term" until April 2003. Under the law now, leases of less than one month are prohibited.

But the homeowners say the city never enforced the ban until after 2003. And they argued that short-term leasing has been part of beach life since the 1930s. The property owners are seeking to be exempt from the 2003 language.

The city is "going back in time and trying to prove that rentals of less than a month were prohibited," said Marion Hale, an attorney for the homeowners. "They've got a right to go forward and make it illegal, but they don't have a right to go back."

Tuesday's nearly five-hour bench trial in front of Judge Nelly Khouzam included testimony from nine property owners, real estate brokers and former renters.

"No one ever complained about it," said longtime local attorney and circuit judge Owen Allbritton, 80, a former renter. "And it was very common knowledge that you could rent."

Helen Dexter, 98, said her stepfather built the family's Eldorado Avenue home in 1930 and began renting it out a few years later. Her daughter, Lissa, said the family continues to rent the home to help pay property taxes.

"We're finding it increasingly difficult to keep the house," she said.

But the city argued it is well within its authority to restrict commercial activity in residential settings.

Assistant City Attorney Leslie Dougall-Sides said the city codes were established to "protect and preserve the integrity and value of the neighborhood." Commercial uses, like renting short term, are clearly prohibited in the city's laws and have been for decades, she said.

None of the landlords who testified asked city zoning officials if it was okay to lease, and most didn't obtain the occupational licenses needed to rent out property, Dougall-Sides said.

Once city leaders were made aware of the violators in 2003, they began citing them, she said.

While short-term rentals have been going on for decades, it didn't start blossoming until the early 2000s as insurance rates and property taxes increased, and big development started gobbling up beach hotels. Adding to the trend was the Internet and the ease it brought to advertising properties.

As tourists were looking for a place to stay, some second homeowners were looking for a way to bring in more income to pay for the escalating costs to keep their homes.

Instead of charging $1,200 to $2,000 for a month's rent, property owners found they could charge the same price per week.

But complaints from permanent residents also rose. Chief among them: Raymond Massieu, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, who documented case after case of loud noise, trash and traffic jams for city officials.

Massieu, 67, testified Tuesday that he filled five writing pads full of notes, documenting what houses he felt were violating the city's ordinance. During testimony he suggested that some of the homes in the lawsuit weren't used as short-term rentals until after the 2003 ordinance was passed.

Since litigation started, the city has gone after a number of violators but has left the landlords involved in the suit alone.

Judge Khouzam said she'll decide in the next couple of weeks whether to grandfather those homes into the ordinance.

Either side can appeal the ruling.

Fast Facts:

Short-term rentals

The issue: Longtime landlords of short-term rentals in the affluent north Clearwater Beach neighborhood have sued the city for its 2003 attempt to crack down on rentals of less than one month. The landlords say the city's vague, pre-2003 code allowed short-term rentals. But permanent residents have sought the short-term rental ban.

The venue: Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court

The resolution: Expected from Judge Nelly Khouzam by the end of the month.

[Last modified April 3, 2007, 21:28:54]