VERO BEACH — A 2011 change to state law prohibits cities like Vero Beach from toughening up its laws against short-term vacation rentals, but Vero is trying to improve the existing laws on the books by clarifying the language in several sections of the code.
The move came after the City Council lost an appeal of a ruling by its own Code Enforcement Board which declared the city code too vague to enforce.
That case was sparked by a $50 fine levied against former councilwoman Tracy Carroll and her husband, John, for renting out their Central Beach home by the night to tourists.
The code board ruled in August 2013 in favor of the Carrolls, but the City Council appealed that ruling to appellate court with a two-fold argument. Attorneys for the city said the Code Board should have accepted Planning and Development Director Tim McGarry’s interpretation of the code, and that the Code Board overstepped its bounds by ruling that the city code was too vague to enforce.
The appellate court upheld the Code Board’s ruling, but did not elaborate on its reasons.
City Attorney Wayne Coment said “the appellate court seemed to be a bit confused” by some of the language in the code.
“We wanted to clarify the code and how the code is interpreted,” Coment said, “To clarify it if in fact we have another appeal in the future.”
Two separate ordinances will be heard at the City Council’s next meeting on Jan. 6. The first is intended to tweak the whole Code Enforcement process and clear up any ambiguities about who has the authority to do what.
In the proposed update, McGarry as Planning and Development Director is clearly designated to interpret the meaning and scope of city code. The second addresses the meat of the part of the code that addresses short-term or transient rentals in residential neighborhoods.
Mayor Dick Winger said the code was confusing in places as to what board or staff member is the go-to authority on each type of code provision.
“We’ll add a definition for the authorized city authority and who that is, we’ll just spell it out,” Coment said. “That’s one thing, I’ve been told, the appellate court struggled with.”
Dan Lamson, executive director of the Indian River Neighborhood Association, rose to the podium during public comment and urged council members to stringently enforce the code pertaining to vacation rentals.
“You can google search vacation rentals and Vero Beach, Florida, and you get hundreds and hundreds of results and that’s nothing new,” Lamson said.
“We certainly need help,” said former councilman Ken Daige, adding that anything that would add “more teeth” to the code would be helpful.
The city must be careful not to approve anything that would violate the law reserving the power to regulate vacation rentals to the State of Florida. City officials don’t like that law and plan on Friday at the Indian River Legislative Delegation meeting to urge that authority to regulate vacation rentals be given back to cities and counties.
“I’m really concerned about putting language in there that could be construed as changing the wording of the code on the books,” said Vice Mayor Jay Kramer.
McGarry said of the planned clarifications, which were crafted in conjunction with the city’s outside legal counsel who specializes in land-use issues, “We don’t believe that goes beyond what was intended in the ordinance.”
Councilwoman Pilar Turner asked McGarry if he thought the proposed changes would empower the city to enforce the ordinance against vacation rentals.
McGarry said yes, adding, “We thought we could enforce it before. I’m getting the sense of the Council that if you want to enforce this strongly, we’ll enforce it.”