VERO BEACH — Want to rent out your home for a month, a week or a night in residential area of the City of Vero Beach? Go ahead. That’s because, as of Wednesday, the City of Vero Beach will not enforce a city policy that forbids short-term rentals of homes in residential areas of the city.
The city Code Enforcement Board voted 3-2 Wednesday, saying the John and Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll did not violate the short-term rental regulations.
The unexpected decision – by the board John Carroll recently served on ¬– appeared to surprise Tim McGarry, the city’s planning director.
Following the meeting Wednesday, McGarry said that his office will no longer enforce the short-term rental matter until there is clear direction from the city’s attorney, the city manager and the City Council.
McGarry said the city could take the matter to court to have a judge decide if the code enforcement board was wrong when it stated the Carrolls did not violate the city code.
“Right now, I am not enforcing anything anymore,” said McGarry. “…Why would we bother?”
The Carrolls challenged a July city code violation before the Code Enforcement Board, saying they did not violate city code and should not be fined.
City officials hoped to increase the fine from $50 to $300 and then add on an administrative fee of $458.81.
At one point, 18 people attended the code enforcement hearing.
“The code is not vague,” said Honey Minuse, a member of the city’s planning and zoning board.
Members of the city’s Code Enforcement Board, however, thought so.
McGarry had predicted it would be simple to prove that the Carrolls had violated city code for years because they have been renting out their Riomar and Central Beach homes on a short-term basis.
Code enforcement officers cited them for their Seagrape home in 2012 after warning them in 2011 – at a time that John Carroll sat on the very board that sided with him Wednesday.
The Carrolls were cited and fined more recently for renting out their Camelia Lane home in Central Beach.
John Carroll doesn’t deny he rents out his property. He challenged the code enforcement fine on the basis of the interpretation of the city code.
The city code does address the matter but it does not say specifically that under 30 days would be a violation.
McGarry didn’t deny that the length of stay was never in the code but he said the city has always referred to the state’s interpretation of 30 days and less to mean transient property.