City tries to register and limit Water Street guests

After an hour of public hearing and discussion Monday night, Historic City News reporters watched as the St. Augustine City Commissioners advanced a proposed ordinance that will require “registration” and a limit of less than 20 at gatherings in short-term rental property.

The proposed ordinance will go to public hearing at the regular commission meeting on August 23rd.

The impetus for the ordinance is a Water Street property being advertised for rental on the Internet. According to some, the property draws large groups, music and even fireworks.

St. Augustine City Commission candidate Chuck Hennessey told Historic City News in an interview this morning, “I have spoken to some residents in the neighborhood as well as other neighborhoods where there has been no particular objection to similar events.”

Hennessey’s opponent in the August 24th Primary Election, Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline, objected to the idea of having property owners or renters “register” to use their rental property but agreed that a new ordinance should be adopted; suggesting that it was best to make an overlay area — targeting the Water Street residential property.

“It’s a mistake to consider creating additional ordinances that target specific houses or streets when we have existing codes and ordinances that are applied across the city,” Hennessey said.

Among complications to be debated over the next two weeks will be the impact of “rental registration” on homestead exemption and limits on gatherings at residential parties throughout the rest of the city.

Hennessey said, “It’s not necessary to create additional ordinances when we have an existing zoning code that does not allow commercial activity in areas that are zoned for residential use.”

Short term rental of property within residential zoning in the City of St. Augustine must be for a term of at least a week.

Planning and Building Director Mark Knight said the $250 fine for a one day event can be wrapped into the wedding expense, concluding that it wasn’t much of a deterrent. If a new ordinance was so worded, Knight said the city could fine the property owner $250 a day for the entire seven days.

“If Mr. Knight’s office has fined a property owner repeatedly for violations of our existing zoning codes, he should declare the property a “nuisance” and pursue an injunction to stop the activity,” Hennessey said. “The solution is not choosing a strategy that simply raises the fines to a level that they cannot be wrapped into the wedding expense.”