Palm Springs vacation rental ban rejected by voters, city still must fix problems

The Desert Sun Editorial Board | Palm Springs Desert Sun

Show Caption Hide Caption Measure C: Residents and visitors give their 2 cents Vacation rentals in Palm Springs has become a hotbed issue recently. Measure C, if passed, will limit certain vacation rentals. Producer Daniel Simon and photographer Richard Lui went around the valley to ask people about their views on the topic.

The voters of Palm Springs wisely have decided to stay the current course when it comes to short-term rentals policy.

Rejecting Measure C’s ban on vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods and keeping this zoning matter in the hands of the City Council where it belongs — as the Editorial Board has argued all along — was the right thing to do.

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s vote, however, there are some important takeaways that all sides must recognize.

Despite Measure C apparently losing by about two to one (outstanding votes remain to be counted), at least 3,100 Palm Springs voters felt strongly enough about noise and other nuisances from some of the worst vacation rentals to try to ban the bulk of all of them.

MORE: The Editorial Board's stance on vacation rentals ballot measures

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The dueling messages in the vote are not incompatible: Palm Springs voters want the STRs to continue, but they also want continued enforcement of the vacation rental ordinance that regulates noise and disruption of their neighborhoods. In other words, owners of STRs should not interpret the vote as permission to ignore the rules governing noise and behavior.

In addition, the vacation rental industry shouldn't gloat about its victory.

This is an industry that fought change and stricter regulation tooth-and-nail when the city began seriously trying to address the problems a couple years back. Its members should be grateful that city officials essentially saved the industry from itself by continuing to work on the new STR ordinance toward a compromise rather than just dig in.

We also learned from this experience more about how the existing ordinance isn't perfect. City Hall must work diligently to address residents' concerns about what needs to be changed. Density of STRs continues to be a big problem in some areas. It is impossible to believe there will be peace when some residents continue to be surrounded on all sides by vacation partiers.

During the campaign, city officials said they don't have an answer on regulating density that would stand-up in court. That's not good enough. There are enough smart people working in City Hall, including two Stanford-trained lawyers on the City Council, to come up with a solution to ease the pain for our full-time residents.

In addition, the existing ordinance doesn't regulate noise when the owners of STRs stay in their own homes. That must be changed.

Other flaws in the current system came to light during the contentious Measure C campaign, and we urge the city to address them promptly.

As to the other side, those who supported Measure C — led by Palm Springs Neighbors for Neighborhoods (PSN4N) — must come back to the table and work sincerely and cooperatively with all of the interested parties to continue to improve the ordinance so it works best for all residents.

Leaders of PSN4N had said their motivation for Measure C was to let the people decide what the city should do about STRs. The voters have spoken.

No one should be so naïve as to believe that the bad blood that has been created by this dispute over the years will simply vanish now that the election is over. Some residents who have been battling the city over STRs have been pressing legal action trying to shut the industry down. (To be fair, the “No on C” side had warned a legal attack would be a certainty if Measure C and its ban had passed.)

Cooler heads must prevail now.

Despite Measure C’s loss, a PSN4N leader said on Election Night that the process educated many more city residents on the entire vacation rentals issue in Palm Springs and how city government works.

Those for and against STRs must now work together with the City Council in this more enlightened environment to fix problems and resolve future disputes as they arise.