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I I I County Attorney has confirmed his opinion that 'enacting an outright prohibition on using a rented-out residence for a special event is justifiable and legal. That opinion seems to be supported by the June 22, 2015 Florida 1st District Court opinion in the Bennet v Walton County case. In that case, the court found it reasonable for Walton County to allow customary occasional events such as house parties and wedding celebrations at a conventional residence while prohibiting similar events at a particular home that was rented-out and used frequently for such events. With respect to the event issue, the Deputy County Attorney, with input from planning staff, has drafted a proposed ordinance that would prohibit renting-out (for compensation) any single-family residence for a special event such as a wedding or reunion. Since the August 13, 2015 PZC hearing, staff has added to the special event prohibition ordinance an exception for events scheduled (contracted) prior to the September 22nd Board hearing that are to be held within one year. In addition, a provision has been added i to the ordinance to allow special events on large (4+ acre) agricultural sites subject to obtaining a temporary use permit (TUP) from planning staff. The special events prohibition ordinance ("Ordinance #2) is scheduled for consideration immediately after the Board's consideration of the proposed vacation rental parking regulations ("Ordinance 1"). In staff's opinion, "Ordinance 2" adequately addresses the event site issue. — Fire Safety I Another issue raised relates to fire safety for vacation rentals. In response to that issue, County Fire Prevention staff coordinated with DBPR (Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation) staff. According to DBPR staff, a licensed vacation rental is required to have functioning smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher. Actual site inspections by DBPR staff, however, appear to be rare and are scheduled only in response to complaints. Inspections of vacation rentals by County Fire Prevention are not currently provided in the county code. Consequently, local inspections of vacation rentals for smoke detectors and fire extinguishers cannot be required without a change to the county code. At the May 5`h Board meeting, Fire Prevention indicated that fire code occupancy loads were not applicable to a residential unit. Staff's position is that occupancy limits for vacation rental units would not be practical to monitor or enforce. In staff's opinion, the issue of fire safety will likely be evaluated in the future by the Short Term Vacation Rental Advisory Committee. i — Citation Powers & Fines Based on Florida Statutes Chapters 162 and 489, County Code Section 103.07, and County Resolution No. 92-59, County code enforcement officers have the power to issue citations for various violations subject to specific procedures. Those procedures include issuance of a warning for an initial violation with time given for compliance. A violation that occurs thereafter may be cited per occurrence. Under the citation resolution currently in place, a $50 citation may be issued for each vehicle in violation of a parking regulation after a warning has been issued to the owner of the premises. Specific types of violations and associated fine amounts could be added to the County's current citation schedule by adoption of a resolution, as was done in 2013 when fertilizer ordinance violations were added to the schedule by Resolution No. 2013-089. County code section 103.07, Resolution No. 92-59, and a citation procedures flowchart are attached (see attachment #8). In staff's opinion, citation powers and fine amounts will likely be evaluated in the future by the Short Term Vacation Rental Advisory Committee. — Local License & Rental Management Contact Information In order to better coordinate with various departments/agencies and better manage compliance with local and state requirements (e.g. parking regulations, special event prohibition, state license, local tourist tax, WAGENDA\Current Year\2015\I0-13-15 Continued P"ingRegsVacRentalsOrdinance.do 6 96