Remember when national and international investors were buying up residential homes and flipping them into short-term vacation rentals (STRs) and listing them on Airbnb or Vrbo? That’s sooooo 2020. The new trend? Investors joining together in complicated webs of LLCs to purchase empty in-fill lots in residential neighborhoods, build structures that are designed to be short-term vacation rentals from the ground up, then form management companies to maintain and rent them.
Seeing that the new article to chat feature can be confusing. You can "comment" by hitting the "comment" button which isn't exactly real time. The chat takes place in the Substack app, which is real time and separate from posting comments. They did a nice job on the feature - the article posted on the chat and I was able to enter some questions as prompts. Check it out.
Thanks for filling in the who and and why part of the equation. I think most of us know ‘what’ is going on, a proliferation of straight to airbnb construction, but not ‘who’ or ‘why’. It is my understanding, from someone who lives down the street from the 2 story monstrosity on Sullivan, that the builder insisted from day 1 that they were building a single family residence. The neighbor knew better, but what are you going to do? Regardless of outcome, once these 2 story buildings are constructed, there’s no going back. The views of the park the neighbors have enjoyed for decades are gone, and at least two one story homes are now literally in the shadow of this thing.
I have said all along, bnb/strs that are clearly owned and managed by commercial enterprises ought to be held to the same standards as any hotel or resort. That means treating your workers as employees under state and federal labor laws, and being held to the same OSHA and health and safety regulations that every other hospitality business is held to. I suspect that many of these investors would move on, once they saw upwards of 50% of their incomes going to wages and fees and improving the lives of local residents.
One has to wonder why none of our elected representatives aren’t pushing through legislation to regulate this new industry? It isn’t just a Basin-wide issue, it is statewide and nationwide.
And the owner of the property of Sullivan that's being appealed came to the Planning Commission saying it was a dream project that he looked forward to sharing with his wife and new baby when they visit the desert. But what's unclear is how many of these are also dream projects, that he may visit? That doesn't mean it wasn't a dream project or that they weren't built with the design and intent of being boutique hotels. Hotels can also be dream projects and people who own hotels also sometimes stay in them.
I agree with you regarding treatment of working people, but I also feel they building process should be subject to CEQA. I don't know who much can be done at this point since several are already under construction, but I do feel Council can require a 3 year waiting period before owners of new construction can apply for STR permits.
which elected officials and/or unelected bureaucrats gave this organization the permit(s) to do this? Post their names and phone numbers. Be vigilant, fellow High Desert peers, you don’t want to become like the Low Desert with a proliferation of noisy, cluttering stvr(s) that destroy your neighborhoods’ desert ambiance. Seriously.
This may be a good time to mention young Joe Gebbia’s first idea, circa our undergrad years @RISD: CRITBUNS! Now I don’t see a huge difference between them, except that critbuns flopped and ruined far less livelihoods and cities, but decide for yourself: http://www.critbuns.com/
Testing the chat...and glad to see this out there.
Seeing that the new article to chat feature can be confusing. You can "comment" by hitting the "comment" button which isn't exactly real time. The chat takes place in the Substack app, which is real time and separate from posting comments. They did a nice job on the feature - the article posted on the chat and I was able to enter some questions as prompts. Check it out.
Thanks for filling in the who and and why part of the equation. I think most of us know ‘what’ is going on, a proliferation of straight to airbnb construction, but not ‘who’ or ‘why’. It is my understanding, from someone who lives down the street from the 2 story monstrosity on Sullivan, that the builder insisted from day 1 that they were building a single family residence. The neighbor knew better, but what are you going to do? Regardless of outcome, once these 2 story buildings are constructed, there’s no going back. The views of the park the neighbors have enjoyed for decades are gone, and at least two one story homes are now literally in the shadow of this thing.
I have said all along, bnb/strs that are clearly owned and managed by commercial enterprises ought to be held to the same standards as any hotel or resort. That means treating your workers as employees under state and federal labor laws, and being held to the same OSHA and health and safety regulations that every other hospitality business is held to. I suspect that many of these investors would move on, once they saw upwards of 50% of their incomes going to wages and fees and improving the lives of local residents.
One has to wonder why none of our elected representatives aren’t pushing through legislation to regulate this new industry? It isn’t just a Basin-wide issue, it is statewide and nationwide.
And the owner of the property of Sullivan that's being appealed came to the Planning Commission saying it was a dream project that he looked forward to sharing with his wife and new baby when they visit the desert. But what's unclear is how many of these are also dream projects, that he may visit? That doesn't mean it wasn't a dream project or that they weren't built with the design and intent of being boutique hotels. Hotels can also be dream projects and people who own hotels also sometimes stay in them.
I agree with you regarding treatment of working people, but I also feel they building process should be subject to CEQA. I don't know who much can be done at this point since several are already under construction, but I do feel Council can require a 3 year waiting period before owners of new construction can apply for STR permits.
Also note that 2 story structures in Indian Cove are on the Council agenda this week - tell your friends to come to Council!!
which elected officials and/or unelected bureaucrats gave this organization the permit(s) to do this? Post their names and phone numbers. Be vigilant, fellow High Desert peers, you don’t want to become like the Low Desert with a proliferation of noisy, cluttering stvr(s) that destroy your neighborhoods’ desert ambiance. Seriously.
Please come to the 29 Palms City Council meeting on Tuesday, Jan 10, 6 pm. You can join us in asking these questions.
This may be a good time to mention young Joe Gebbia’s first idea, circa our undergrad years @RISD: CRITBUNS! Now I don’t see a huge difference between them, except that critbuns flopped and ruined far less livelihoods and cities, but decide for yourself: http://www.critbuns.com/