SANTA ANA – Every time someone new moves into West Floral Park, a tight-knit community in the northern tip of Santa Ana with many vintage houses, tree-shaded streets and abundant lawns, members of its neighborhood association approach with a basket of goodies and encourage them to attend their meetings.

When neighbors reached out to Sarah Greenberg, who purchased a home at 2239 N. Rosewood Ave. in May, they learned she planned to live there with her 14-year-old daughter. But in the weeks to come, neighbors didn’t recognize the people they saw going in and out of the house.

Often, the new faces came by the van or truckload, throwing pool parties and staying up until 2 a.m. Neighbors said they sometimes heard the visitors discussing their sight-seeing plans, such as Disneyland.

Next-door neighbor Diego Matzkin, 45, took to the Internet and found the home listed on VRBO and Homeaway – short-term rentals sites – being advertised as a newly remodeled, six-bedroom “Anaheim House” able to sleep 22 people and “centrally located to all attractions, restaurants, shopping malls and close to freeway 22, 5, 60, 55, 91 and 405.”

The vacation home-type operation seemed illegal to Matzkin, and upon looking up Santa Ana’s municipal code stating hotels are defined as more than five rooms and not permitted in the residential zone, he reported it to code enforcement. Still, the groups kept showing up.

“One day we had one of these really loud groups show up and we actually had to move bedrooms to the other side of house,” Matzkin said.

Another resident on the block, Santa Ana Planning Commissioner Bruce Bauer, 51, emailed Greenberg to point out she was illegally running a “hotel” in the neighborhood, and she replied she had consulted with her attorney and changed her vacation rental to five bedrooms. The Homeaway listing was modified with the reduced room count and location as Santa Ana.

Greenberg faced her up-in-arms neighbors at an administrative hearing Thursday in which she appealed two administrative citation fines for unpermitted property use and lack of a business license for the rental property.

In her testimony, Greenberg said she began renting the house on a short-term basis “right after” purchasing it because her daughter begged not to live there and that neighbors were harassing her. Greenberg also claimed she was running a “lodging house” with less than six rooms and therefore not in violation of the municipal code.

“Based on the municipal code, a hotel is more than five rooms in the house, and I don’t have a receptionist,” the Los Angeles resident said. “I don’t rent each individual room, I rent the whole house.”

Independent administrative hearing officer Barbara Echan and Community Preservation manager Alvaro Nunez explained that using a complete house as temporary lodging, regardless of the number of rooms, is not permitted in the area, but Greenberg adamantly stuck to her stance.

Though some Orange County cities have been dealing with a rash of complaints over short-term rentals, such as the destination city of Laguna Beach, this dispute marks the first time in Santa Ana, according to City Manager David Cavazos.

“I’m concerned about it, of course,” Cavazos said. “Protecting our neighborhoods is important, and one of the ways is through zoning.”

Homeowners in the neighborhood have another concern on their minds – real estate values and their potential depreciation with the presence of the short-term rental.

“It’s cancerous,” said Bill Schaefer, a real estate agent who lives about a block away from Greenberg’s house, “and I don’t want to see that happening in any neighborhood in Santa Ana.”

Neighbors pointed out Greenberg has two similar listings for homes in Anaheim on Homeaway and is a licensed real estate agent.

“This is her business,” Bauer said.

Asked about her neighbors’ conclusions around her background in real estate and short-term rentals operations, Greenberg told the Orange County Register: “Everything they say is not true.”

Echan, who said she will issue a final decision within 10 days of Thursday, told Greenberg: “I would encourage you as a homeowner to make peace with your neighbors as well.”

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