Owners of single-family homes designated as landmark historic properties in Beverly Hills may not receive an exemption to the city’s recent ban on short-term rentals, following a vote taken by the Beverly Hills Planning Commission at their Sept. 11 meeting.
The commission was split in a 3-2 vote on the issue, with Commissioners Myra Demeter and Terri Kaplan and Chair Jeff Wolfe voting to deny the exemption.
The issue was initially raised for public debate at the City Council’s Aug. 5 meeting, when the council voted to ban short-term rentals in the city. Short-term rentals were defined as leases of less than 12 consecutive months.
After hearing from the public that some owners of single-family landmark homes used short-term rentals to finance the required maintenance of their homes, councilmembers instructed the Cultural Heritage and Planning Commissions to consider whether to offer an exemption.
On Sept. 3, the Cultural Heritage Commission discussed the issue. Commissioners were generally in favor of the exemption, however they suggested certain changes to the draft proposed by city staff. Some of those changes were incorporated into the draft presented to the Planning Commission.
The ordinance under review by the Planning Commission at their Sept. 11 meeting proposed that any short-term rental falling under the exemption must be located in a single-family residential zone; may only be offered in a separate structure such as a guest house, accessory dwelling unit (ADU) or junior ADU; and must have a minimum stay of two consecutive nights. The property owner would be required to be present during the renter’s stay and would pay transient occupancy taxes.
Deborah Blum, a Beverly Hills resident who owns a single-family landmark historic home and has been at the forefront of advocating for the exemption, spoke on Sept. 11 about why the exemption would be important for individuals or families such as herself.
“While cities can simply mandate that private property owners preserve historic features, they often create programs to make preservation more financially viable, thereby incentivizing people to landmark their properties in the first place … carving out an exemption will create another financial incentive,” she said.
Demeter expressed her opinion that any short-term rentals at all would decrease the number of available housing units in the city.
“I believe that the city should not be encouraging any short-term rentals,” she said. “The carve-out takes units off the market, which is in direct contrast to our promise in our housing element. We can expect that if we were to do that, that we would hear from higher powers, perhaps the state. ADUs are a wonderful vehicle, and we’ve worked very hard to … streamline the process, but it is not for short-term rentals. It is to increase the housing stock.”
Noting that there are many homes in the city that are expensive to maintain regardless of landmark status, Kaplan said she felt similarly to Demeter.
“I think this is fundamentally poor policy, to create a carve-out that, on its face, suggests that it’s for the broad range of landmarked residential properties, but we’ve had zero input from any other owners [aside from Blum] … if we’re looking for incentives for people to landmark their properties, there are many other things we should look to,” she said. “This should not be one of them.”
Commissioner Gary Ross, who voted against the denial of the exemption, expressed his support for individuals and families who willingly shoulder the responsibility of maintaining landmark homes.
“I do believe that there are burdens and obligations on homeowners of these structures that they take on in a noble and righteous manner to preserve our community, and I’m in favor of encouraging that,” he said. “There are only 18 of them … they purchased their homes with certain rights and expectations.”
Following the 3-2 vote, the commission’s recommendation to deny the resolution will be forwarded to the City Council for consideration at a future meeting. At that time, the council would have the option to adopt an ordinance that is not in alignment with the Planning Commission’s recommendation, however it could only include topics considered by the commission.
In other news, Assistant Director and City Planner Masa Alkire has announced his departure from Beverly Hills after accepting a position with the City of Manhattan Beach. As of Sept. 8, Alkire will serve as Manhattan Beach’s Community Development Director.
“Masa’s service to the City of Beverly Hills included overseeing the City’s planning programs and handling several major development projects,” said Michael Forbes, Director of Community Development, in a statement. “We thank Masa for his years of dedicated service to Beverly Hills and wish him all the best in his new role.”
