YES on A La Quinta CA. Voters to decide November 8, 2022

Who Endorses Yes on Measure A

Don Adolph,  former La Quinta Mayor

Gary Tomak,  former Desert Sands Unified School District Board of Trustee

Linda Williams,  former Historic Preservation Commission and President of La Quinta Historical Society

Kay Wolff,  Community Leader and City Founder

Paul and Dori Quill, former Planning and Community Services Commissioners

Katie Barrows,  former Planning Commissioner

John Guerrini,  Laguna De La Paz - President

and more....

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See Who Endorses YES on Measure A

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 What's Happening Next?

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The City Council will place the Measure on the November ballot​ for the voters

• On June 7, 2022, the City Council adopted resolutions to submit to the qualified voters of the City of La Quinta the Initiative to be decided by voters on Election Day, November 8, 2022.

• Council adopted resolutions to submit to voters the Initiative the following ballot question:

Shall the measure, proposing to phase-out and permanently ban           YES

"non-hosted short-term vacation rentals" as defined, in non-exempt

areas of the City of La Quinta by December 31, 2024, be adopted?         NO

What do Council Members Say? 

Mayor Pro Tem Kathleen Fitzpatrick

Palm Springs Desert Sun / Published June 8, 2022

What do neighbors say? 

"Overnight renters are not neighbors. We bought our home in La Quinta Cove in 2012 and have put many hours of labor into fixing it up. This neighborhood is a gem, and we thoroughly enjoy everything it offers … until the weekends arrive. Short-term vacation renters, usually crowds of young adults, arrive here for weekends of partying. They ... feel entitled to party as they wish, all day long and into the late night hours. We’ve tried to address the issue directly, but the renter’s response is either an apology without change or a reply telling us to mind our own business. We’ve had one short-term party house behind us for years and now we have another short-term rental beside us. A community filled with short-term rentals is not a community. Short-term visitors come and go with little respect for surrounding residents."

Mariel & John, La Quinta Cove, April 14, 2022

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“This argument that profits trump human rights and health is not a valid, humane position to take.  In reality, property values diminish when you have short-term renters who destroy property, and when you have landlords who purchase these homes with the intent of making a profit out of it.”

Resident Marlene Fradis, addressing the City council, April 6, 2021

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“STVRs ruin communities since you can’t be neighbors with transients.  They also create more noise, cars, and trash can problems than a long-term renter would” (Survey #473)

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“I have owned a rental property in La Quinta for 3 years.  The long-term people were never a problem.  The short-term people are not in a hotel so that they can get drunk, misbehave.  They add little to the economy, they are living out of their coolers in the backyard until they pass out. (Survey #40)

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"We live in a gated community and many of the homes have been sold to investors for rentals. We have 2 on either side of us. We didn’t buy here to hear pool parties. I have no problem with long term rentals. We’ve made friends with several over the years. This has got to stop!" (Steve, PGAW)

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Read more Testimonials from your fellow residents...

RESIDENTS DON’T WANT TO LIVE NEXT DOOR TO STVRs

“We want families as neighbors not the weekly disruption of people coming and going for a few days and the many problems that arise from these unsupervised nightly rentals.”

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Neighbors for Neighborhoods (N4N) has studied STVRs in La Quinta and other cities, and we listened. The residents are clear; they want neighbors in their neighborhoods, not nightly renters, unsecured and unsupervised. N4N has been working for the past two years to improve the La Quinta STVR policy.  Here are some of N4N’s key research findings.

N4N conducted a Survey to understand what La Quinta residents experience

Survey of La Quinta Residents Vision for La Quinta, January 16, 2021

AAPOR – Survey Actual Margin of sampling error  = +/-3.6% at 95% confidence

Written Comments – Survey respondents gave 945 written comments

“STVRs ruin communities since you can’t be neighbors with transients.  They also create more noise, cars, and trash problems than a long-term renter would” (Survey Respondent #473)

“I want to live in a neighborhood with neighbors. This constant stream of strangers is very unnerving. I feel very unsafe all the time. This has got to stop.”  (Survey Respondent #535)

Read all Survey Comments from V for LQ

Read Comments from N4N Members

Survey Responses

75% of La Quinta respondents who live near STVRs say they experience problems. They tell us what they experience and what they don’t like! 

Survey of LQ STVR neighbors shows 5 of top 9 STVR created problems cannot be cited by code enforcement. See FAQs..

(See Vision – Enforcement, pages 20-21, Vision for La Quinta)

Analysis of Written Comments – a measure of pent-up anxiety, frustration & anger!

LESSONS LEARNED - To understanding the root cause of resident's pent-up anxiety, frustration and anger caused by "nightly

rentals" STVRs, a key word search was performed on the 945 comments (Attachment 6-1 of the Vision of La Quinta) returned

with the survey. The results are shown in the table above. (See VISION-Comments-page 36)

In less than 90 days, Neighbors for Neighborhoods (N4N) collected 3,664 La Quinta petition signatures.  

This was more than 1,200 signatures needed to qualify the initiative. There is broad base support for this initiative and that has been demonstrated.

Conclusion

The problems residents experience with STVRs is consistent and ongoing. If the current city policy is working great, why do HOA’s choose to ban STVRs? The City Council program is NOT GREAT. It leaves in place an ongoing problem for residents in La Quinta communities with STVR densities of 3.0% - 10%. We count on our city leaders to protect us, and they have done the opposite by continuing to justify these businesses. We must protect our neighborhoods. YES on Measure A will restore and preserve La Quinta neighborhoods.

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Vote YES on A

CITY COUNCIL "DON’T MISLEAD THE VOTERS"

“The City Council should NOT put a price tag on our citizen’s quality of life.”

The City Council warns there may be unintended consequences from Measure A that will negatively affect city services and cost the local economy. They warn of delayed public work projects, and lack of maintenance for aging infrastructure. Measure G sales tax revenue currently operates at a 38% annual surplus. But they state if “YES on A” passes, Measure G revenue will mostly be consumed by Police & Fire within the next few years. 

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They acknowledge STVRs are a burden for individual residential families where they exist, especially neighborhoods without any private zoning covenants. But they use city finances to justify continuing STVRs anyway. Despite the concerns from residents, they state STVRs generate $6 million in annual TOT revenue for the city and this needs to continue no matter the effect on certain residents complaining.

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City Council makes these representations when the city of La Quinta has 5-year running annual budget surpluses and a $54 million cash reserve! 

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Question: Why do they want you to believe these warnings? 

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Answer: Because it’s the only argument they have to dissuade you from asserting a permanent right to live in a settled neighborhood without STVRs.

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Here are some facts to consider!

The La Quinta City council completed study, as expected, is one-sided, focusing on the loss of tax and business revenue, with no mention of the revenue that would be gained for the city, schools, and local businesses by having more full-time residents.

How can the city’s projections be off base? Easy. Underestimate the revenues, inflate the expenses and hide the surplus. For example, TOT revenue for the remaining, and future STVRs in the tourist zones is not accurately projected.  Capital improvement budgets go from $2 million to $4 million to $8 million. Annual surpluses can be tucked away in various reserve accounts.

In order overstate expenditures and understate revenues, the City Council ignores these facts:

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• 10-year Budget forecast include $70 million in non-approved capital spending at 2X historical. This is the single major cause for budget deficits in both scenarios. This is misleading!

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• Reduction in Sales Tax revenue of ~ $1.5 million per year in outlying budget years due to Measure A by taking the TEC report at its word. This is misleading and why​

• Tourism Economic Report claims visitor spending yields $1.5M sales tax revenue and will not be offset by any other use of residential housing. 

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• No economic benefit to La Quinta GDP or city revenue attributed to LQ resorts and hotels gaining larger share of tourism.

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• No offsetting GDP or Sales Tax resulting from family homes replacing STVRs. No growth in economic activity from families securing healthcare, dentistry, pharmacy, groceries, clothing, hardware, furnishing from local businesses. 

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• City Council acknowledges there was NO NEGATIVE ECONOMIC EFFECT FROM LOSING 23% STVRS DURING THE LAST 18 MONTHS! But they don’t consider that fact in their budget forecast! Truth is, offsetting GDP and tax revenue will replace this business tax revenue!

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• Reduction of STVR Transient Occupancy (TOT) ~ $4.2 million per year in outlying budget years due Measure A​​​​​

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• Loss of TOT revenue from STVR rents with no offsetting tourism activity or replacement revenue.

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• There was no accounting for growth in STVRs in Tourist Commercial zones.  La Quinta has designated eleven tourist commercial zones for nightly rentals. The proposed initiative will allow the city to continue to collect taxes and permitting fees from nightly rentals and STVR owners to continue to operate in La Quinta. A win-win-win for all parties involved.

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• Signature at PGAW has +21 new STVR permits granted since the first of the year. As TC area home building continues, private capital moves in to commercialize these areas for tourism. A formal plan like Measure A gives private capital the right incentives!

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• Signature and Talus’ Montage and Pendry Residences will add up to 297 STVRs to LQ’s STVR program. None of this were accounted for in the Measure A study session.

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• Studies Show (Morgan Stanley | Research) that 98% of visitors would come to La Quinta anyway if STVRs were not available. Yet LQ City Council believes 100% would not visit La Quinta unless they could rent in our iconic neighborhoods.

​​Morgan Stanley | Research. 2016. Who Will Airbnb Hurt More - Hotels or OTAs?... One Year Later. In Global Insights.13   As was reported by Morgan and Stanley, in 2016, only 2% of visitors would have not taken the trip if Airbnb would not have been an option.

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• No offsetting financial benefit from the children of new families attending DSUSD school.

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BANNED IN OTHER DESERT CITIES 

Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, Palm Desert and Cathedral City have all banned short term vacation rentals in their residential neighborhoods and like La Quinta thus far, there has been no grim economic or city finance fallout resulting from these bans.

VOTE YES on A

Vote YES on Measure A

THE PROBLEM

The City of La Quinta issued loosely restricted Business Permits that allowed Short-term Vacation Rentals (STVRs) to proliferate in low-density, single-family Residential Zones.

Permitted for large numbers of transient occupants, STVRs are mini-motels. STVRs are businesses, not family residences, and belong in the City's Tourist-Commercial zones, not Residential zones.

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Vacation rentals reduce long-term housing availability and displace residents. The renters have proven to be a nuisance and a danger threatening our resident's quiet enjoyment.

THE SOLUTION

Do what the City Council has failed to do. Ban STVRs in residential zones by putting a Ballot Initiative to voters. Let the voters decide for themselves.

1. Reassert the right to live in non-commercial, single-family residential neighborhoods protected by zoning.

2. Restore and improve our available housing in residential zones for our working families.

3. Restore and return our residential neighborhood integrity, character, and livability.

4. Restrict STVRs to Tourist  Commercial Zones within the City.