Hermosa Beach hearing, and code enforcement officers challenged over short term rental emails
by Kevin Cody An appeal of a $2,500 Hermosa Beach short term rental (STR) citation got off to a rocky start in a City Hall conference room Monday morning when attorney Frank Angel asked hearing officer Colleen Berg to recuse herself. “Is the playing field tilted?” the attorney asked the hearing officer. When Berg didn’t respond, Angel cited email exchanges between Berg, who is hired by the city to be a neutral arbitrator, and Hermosa Beach Building and Code Enforcement officer Guillermo Hobelman. An email from Berg to Hobelman, dated November 18, 2024, includes a “decision letter,” in which Berg rules against Hermosa Beach resident Josh Friedrich. The high school teacher had appealed a $5,000 citation for an illegal short term rental in his home. Hermosa Beach bans STRs (under 30 days), except in the commercially zoned downtown. Berg’s email to Hobelman begins, “If it does not break any rules can I send you my decision so I am sure it has in it all the components that are needed? There is a big hunk of text in one of the [earlier] decisions I removed as it did not see[m] to apply to Hermosa.” Hobelman responded by e-mail, “Yes, please do.” To which Berg responded the following…
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