A Hermosa Beach city council member wants the city to look into adopting an ordinance similar to the one recently approved in Manhattan Beach that regulates short-term home rentals during the popular six-man volleyball tournament.
Howard Fishman said the city might benefit limiting short-term rentals for next July 4th after this year’s holiday was especially busy and boisterous.
“You have an absentee landlord and things can get out of control,” Fishman said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
“Along the Strand especially, many of those units are rented for the weekend. That’s where a lot of these issues is coming from, the rentals.”
Hermosa Beach does not allow short-term home rentals in the city, but the ordinance isn’t enforced. Regulating such rentals might involve lifting the prohibition.
City Council member Mike DiVirgilio asked staff to prepare an analysis of how other communities like Hermosa successfully deal with a lot of people on a holiday, which will include a look at how to regulate short-term home rentals and other city policies.
The issue will be placed on a future agenda after the police and fire chiefs present reports on the holiday’s activities, city officials said.
DiVirgilio said this year’s July 4th was at a “new level of combustibility.”
This year’s Fourth of July crowds were a challenge for the city’s emergency services departments, with 373 calls for service and the jail filling up at 10 p.m.
