by Kevin Cody
The City of Hermosa Beach has refunded a $5,500 fine to the owner of the 28-unit Vurpillat condominium on The Strand for violating the city’s ban on short-term vacation rentals in residential areas.
The refund was granted after Administrative Officer Steve Napolitano ruled that “the city’s ban on STVRs in the Coastal Zone is invalid…” The Coastal Zone is a parcel of land west of the Greenbelt and encompasses about half of the city’s 8,250-acre (3.25 km²) area.
Napolitano justified his decision by saying that the city had failed to obtain approval of the ban from the Coastal Commission.
Napolitano is a city-appointed attorney who presides over administrative appeals of traffic fines. He is also a Manhattan Beach City Council member and a candidate in the November general election for Los Angeles County Superior Court Seat 39.
Attorney Frank Angel, who represented Vurpillat owner Jay Mitchell, called the ruling “far-reaching.”
Angel noted that last week another Strand resident who appealed an STVR fine received a refund.
Carrie Tai, Hermosa Beach’s community development director, disagreed.
In response to an interview request about the ruling, she sent an email saying, in part, “The City will comply with the hearing officer’s decision to quash the subpoena. The City will also fully refund the $5,500 administrative fine imposed on the owners of Vurpillat.”
Fines for STVRs violating the city’s ban range from $5,000 to $20,000 per day
But Tai added, “The city will continue to enforce the short-term rental ban in its current form because the negotiator’s decision relates solely to the contested subpoena.”
Tai disputed the basis of Napolitano’s decision, stating in her email, “The City is not required to seek a coastal development permit for general zoning regulations.”
“The city’s short-term vacation rental ordinance has already been challenged in court – and upheld,” Tai wrote.
Angel said in an interview that the case Tai cites to support Hermosa’s STVR ordinance is six years old, and in the meantime, three published cases have confirmed the Coastal Commission’s jurisdiction over short-term vacation rentals.
Like Hermosa, Manhattan Beach banned STVRs in the coastal zone in 2016. But in 2022, an appeals court ruled in Keene v. City of Manhattan Beach that Manhattan’s ban was illegal. Angel represented the plaintiff.
Angel also cited a 2021 appeals court ruling, Kracke v. City of Santa Barbara, which stated, “The Coastal Law required the Commission’s approval of a CDP (Coastal Development Permit), LCP (Local Coastal Program) amendment or waiver of amendment before the ban could be imposed.”
Without the Coastal Commission’s approval, Angel argued, “the City of Hermosa and its officials incur significant liabilities under the Coastal Law and the Bill of Rights when they collect fines from property owners in the Hermosa Beach coastal zone based on STVR regulations that they know have no legal effect.”
According to STVR analytics site AirDNA, Hermosa Beach currently has about 200 short-term vacation rental listings on sites like Vrbo and Airbnb.
Hermosa has only issued 14 STVR permits, all in commercial areas where STVRs are legal. HE
