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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 5 - 956 S PASEO CAROLETA - APPEAL DOCUMENTATION (6-16-2025)May 2, 2025 TO: Administrative Appeals Board, City of Palm Springs RE: Appeal of Administrative Citation #AB0764 – 956 S Paseo Caroleta Dear Members of the Administrative Appeals Board, We respectfully submit this letter to formally appeal Administrative Citation #AB0764 regarding our property at 956 S Paseo Caroleta, Palm Springs, CA. We take this matter extremely seriously and would like to provide the following context for your consideration. First and foremost, we want to reaffirm our commitment to responsible short-term rental operations. We have no prior history of violations with the City of Palm Springs and have consistently submitted all required contract summaries through the City’s previous system. Additionally, we have remained fully current on our Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) obligations since obtaining a permit in 2020 and have always strived to comply with all municipal regulations in good faith. In this case, the violation occurred during the recent transition to the City’s new digital compliance platform in early 2025. Our designated local contact, who has overseen our account for several years, attempted to create a new system login in February 2025 (a screenshot of his correspondence to set up the account is included with this appeal). According to his documentation, he attempted to submit the required contract summaries; however, the new platform does not provide confirmation emails or submission receipts as the previous system did. We are currently working to gather all available supporting evidence, including login attempts and browser history. Meanwhile, we have continued to submit our monthly TOT reports consistently and on time throughout the system transition. We fully understand the importance of compliance and take complete accountability for resolving this matter. As such, we have already submitted the missing contract summaries. In addition, we are in the process of parting ways with our former local contact and have begun interviewing new property managers. We are committed to implementing stronger internal oversight to ensure this issue does not happen again. We respectfully request that the City consider the following: •Our clean track record over the past four years •Our on-time TOT payments, including for the period in question •The technological transition issues involved in this case •Our swift and proactive response, including documentation submission and new management planning We deeply value the trust the City places in its hosting community and take our obligations seriously. We ask for the opportunity to correct this isolated issue without a six-month suspension that would be unduly punitive given the context, and unwarranted given our demonstrated record of good faith compliance. ktUm B n TRXU v May 2, 2025 Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Alexander Mohler & Steve Sun Owners, 956 S Paseo Caroleta amohler@gmail.com | 724-413-9133 Enclosures: • Personal letter from local contact Nilesh Kumar • Correspondence from Nilesh Kumar to Antony Bryan Valle re onboarding to the new digital system, dated 2/19/2025 • Screenshots of consistent, on-time TOT payments since migrating to the new system. • Screenshots of previous contract summary submission email receipts from the old system. • Screenshots of correspondence with Nilesh Kumar regarding submissions of the contract summaries and the new digital system. Item 5 - Page 2 May 2nd, 2025 To Whom It May Concern, I am writing in response to the notice of violation issued regarding 956 Paseo Caroleta property, specifically for the failure to submit a short-term rental contract as required by the Palm Springs Vacation Rental Ordinance. I acknowledge that submitting a rental contract summary is a requirement for all short-term rental activity. In this instance, the failure to submit the required documentation was unintentional and the result of an administrative oversight due to the new GovOS system. At no point was it my intention to avoid compliance with city regulations. I respectfully request leniency regarding this violation, as this was a first-time oversight, and I am committed to maintaining full compliance with the City’s ordinances. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Nilesh Kumar 760-641-3045 Item 5 - Page 3 May 2, 2025 ON-TIME TOT TRANSACTIONS SINCE MERGING TO THE NEW GOVOS PLATFORM Item 5 - Page 4 May 2, 2025 PREVIOUS CONTRACT SUMMARY SUBMISSIONS – EXAMPLES OF RECEIPTS Item 5 - Page 5 May 2, 2025 CORRESPONDENCE FROM NILESH KUMAR ATTEMPTING TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT ON THE NEW PLATFORM Item 5 - Page 6 May 2, 2025 CORRESPONDENCE WITH NILESH KUMAR REGARDING CONTRACT SUMMARY SUBMISSIONS AND THE NEW DIGITAL SYSTEM Item 5 - Page 7