Resolution 391-1993
. '.
FILED r OR REeOEr'.
RESOLUTION NO. 391-1993
C:;"
"93 NOV 22 P 4 :....U
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING CODE
':. ,;ENFORCEMENT ACTION AND REQUESTING LAW
,', ',E,NFORCEMENT AGENCY ASSISTANCE CONCERNING
t'irJ\m! .DISORDERLY CONDUCT AND OTHER DISRUPTIVE
BEHA VIOR ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSIENT OCCUPANCY
IN RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISIONS; AND DIRECTING
PLA~NG STAFF TO DRAFT LAND DEVELOPMENT
REGULATIONS PROVIDING ALTERNATIVE MEASURES
FOR REGULATING OR RESTRICTING SUCH OCCUPANCY
IN RESIDENTIAL LAND USE DISTRICTS
WHEREAS, a growing number of houses in established single-family
neighborhoods are being offered for rent and rented to transient guests, although the
owners/operators of many such houses lack a State license and/or County occupational license;
and
WHEREAS, the State of Florida defines and regulates as "rooming house" every
house kept, used, maintained, or advertised as, or held out to the public to be, a place where
living quarters or sleeping or housekeeping accommodations are supplied for pay to transient
guests or tenants [F.S. ~~ 212.02(1O)(c) and 212. 18(3)(a)]; and
WHEREAS, the State of Florida subjects the operation of "rooming houses" to
a transient rentals tax [under F.S. ~ 212.03] on tenancies of less than six months duration, and
further authorizes Counties to impose and levy [under F.S. ~ 125.0104] a tourist development
tax on the "taxable privilege" of conducting such an operation; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Part 1 ofF.S. Chapter 509, the State of Florida Division
of Hotels and Restaurants ("the Division") has responsibility to regulate certain aspects of
"public lodging establishments" (including lodging advertised to transients and rented more than
three times per calendar year for periods of less than a month); and
WHEREAS, the Division has statutory responsibility to license and inspect public
lodging establishments, and to enforce State laws and regulations concerning sanitation, fire
safety and other safety standards, but has largely abdicated that responsibility with respect to
"rooming houses" and similar lodging establishments in Monroe County's residential districts;
and
WHEREAS, Chapter 509, Florida Statutes, grants operators of public lodgings
broad power to refuse admission to, and eject, undesirable guests (including guests involved in
illegal drug activity, who are profane, intoxicated, lewd, brawling or who disturb the peace),
but does not require operators to exercise those powers to protect neighbors from objectionable
conduct of transient guests; and
WHEREAS, several responsible property managers engaged in renting and
management of many "rooming houses" in Monroe County have demonstrated their ability and
willingness to enforce prohibitions against objectionable conduct by transient guests, and have
expressed willingness to establish methods to report and to restrict such conduct; and
WHEREAS, increasing numbers of complaints from Monroe County residents
have been received by Code Enforcement officers, the Board of County Commissioners and law
enforcement agencies directed toward misconduct of some transient tenants in residential
neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, although Monroe County's Code Enforcement officers are well suited
by training and experience to investigate neighbor complaints, the Code Enforcement mechanism
2
set forth in Florida Statutes Chapters 125 and 162 is not well suited to provide rapid relief to
neighbors suffering from sporadic or transitory violations by transients of laws and ordinances
governing noise, lewd behavior, profanity, littering and trash disposal, natural resources
protection, and parking or operation of motor vehicles, boats or other watercraft; and
WHEREAS, F. S. ~ 509.143 grants to law enforcement officers the power, under
certain circumstances, to arrest persons engaged in disorderly conduct on the premises of
licensed lodging establishments; and
WHEREAS, F.S. ~ 509.285 empowers "appropriate" County officials, upon
request, to assist the Division and its agents in the enforcement of Chapter 509; and
WHEREAS, F.S. Chapters 212 and 509 provide civil and criminal penalties for
failure to register a "rooming house" and to pay required transient rental and tourist development
taxes, and to operate an unlicensed public lodging establishment; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to F.S. ~ 509.271, procurement of a State public lodging
establishment license is a prerequisite to issuance of the corresponding County occupational
license; and
WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County prefers to
allow private measures, voluntary compliance, and existing laws and law enforcement
mechanisms to be fully utilized before imposing new and more restrictive regulations, but
intends to initiate the lengthy process of drafting and seeking public input on land development
regulations ("LDRs") to restrict or prohibit transient rentals in residential neighborhoods, should
voluntary or less-restrictive measures prove ineffective to curb misconduct by transient tenants
in residential neighborhoods;
3
NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe
County, Florida, as follows:
1. Enforcement of Florida Statutes Chapters 509 and 212:
a) Monroe County's Code Enforcement officers are hereby designated as
appropriate County officials, and are hereby authorized upon request of
the State of Florida Division of Hotels and Restaurants, to assist the
Division and its agents in the enforcement of Florida Statutes Chapter
509.
b) Law enforcement agencies operating in unincorporated Monroe County,
Florida, are requested to investigate and enforce, and to provide to the
Division any assistance requested in the enforcement of, State laws
regulating and taxing "rooming houses" and "public lodging
establishments. "
c) The Division is respectfully requested to undertake vigorously its statutory
duty to inspect, license and regulate all rooming houses operating in the
residential neighborhoods of Monroe County.
d) The assistance of State Senator Daryl L. Jones and State Representative
Ron Saunders is requested in securing Division compliance with, and any
State funding needed to implement, the foregoing request; and request is
further made that they introduce legislation requiring operators of public
lodging establishments, as a condition of license, to undertake reasonable
4
efforts to restrain or to eject guests whose conduct disturbs the residential
neighborhood in which the establishment is located.
2. Enforcement of other statutes and of existing Monroe County ordinances:
a) The Monroe County Department of Code Enforcement is directed to
investigate and take action on reported violations of the County's
occupational licensing requirements applicable to public lodging
establishments.
b) Law enforcement agencies operating in unincorporated Monroe County,
Florida, and particularly the Monroe County Sheriffs office, are
respectfully requested to investigate promptly, and where appropriate to
apprehend persons engaged in, disorderly conduct on the premises of
public lodging establishments located in residential neighborhoods, and to
enforce laws and ordinances regulating excessive noise and other behavior
which disturbs the peace of our residential neighborhoods.
c) The Monroe County Department of Code Enforcement is directed to assist
to the full extent authorized by law in the law enforcement actions
referred to in 2(b), above.
3. Monroe County encourages, and shall coordinate through the Director of Code
Enforcement, meetings between professional property managers and
representatives of neighborhood/community associations to formulate and
implement practical measures designed to curb the misconduct sometimes
associated with transient rentals in residential neighborhoods. Those measures
5
should include effective methods of reporting to the property owner or manager
incidents of abusive behavior by tenants, and of reporting/documenting chronic
abuses, without exposing the complainant to retribution or placing on the
complainant the burden of enforcement.
4. The Department of Planning is directed to present for consideration by the
Planning Commission, in conformity with the provisions of Florida Statutes
Chapters 163 and 380 and Chapter 9.5 of the Monroe County Code, draft land
development regulations to restrict or prohibit "rooming houses" and public
lodging establishments requiring licensure under Chapter 509, F. S., in residential
land use districts. In issuing this direction, the Board makes no determination
that such LDRs are necessary or appropriate, but recognizes both the existence
of a growing land use issue which may require a legislative response if other
measures prove ineffectual, and the lengthy process required to enact LDRs in an
Area of Critical State Concern.
5. The Clerk is hereby directed to transmit a copy of this Resolution to State Senator
Daryl L. Jones, State Representative Ron Saunders, Sheriff Richard Roth,
Director of the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, and to the officers in charge
of the Monroe County operations of the Florida Highway Patrol and Florida
Marine Patrol.
6
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County,
Florida, at a regular meeting of said Board held on the 19th day of October , 1993.
,0;.\ '
,~,
r,}
(SEAL)
AITE$T: DANNY L. KOLHAGE, CLERK
BY:~C.~~
Deputy Clerk
Mayor London yes
Mayor Pro Tern Cheal yes
Commissioner Reich no
Commissioner Freeman yes
Commissioner Harvey no
7