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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1729 - ORDINANCES - 4/2/2008 ORDINANCE NO. 1729 AN ORDINANCE OF CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, ADDING SECTION 93.15.10 TO, AND AMENDING SECTION 91.00.10 OF, THE PALM SPRINGS ZONING CODE, RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF LAND USE REGULATIONS FOR CONDOMINIUM HOTEL PROJECTS. City Attome 's Summary This ordinance establishes a regulatory land use program for the review and approval of Condominium Hotel projects in the City. The City Council of the City of Palm Springs ordains: Section 1. Section 91.00.10 is amended to add the following as new terms, in alphabetical order, with the following definitions: "Condominium Hotel" or "Condo-Hotel" means a commercial condominium project with Units within a Hotel or Resort Hotel that are individually owned. "Condominium Hotel Unit" or "Condo-Hotel Unit" means any Unit within a Condominium Hotel. A Condominium Hotel Unit is a commercial use and therefore may not be considered a permanent residence. "Condo-Hotel Unit Owner" or "Unit Owner' means an individual, group of individuals, or other entity that acquires any ownership interest in, and holds title to, one or more Condominium Hotel units. "Condominium Hotel Manager" means a single qualified professional management entity to maintain and operate the Hotel or Resort Hotel. "First Class Hotel Standard" means a standard of physical features of and operational (service expectations) aspects for a hotel or resort hotel that meets or exceeds the criteria established for the American Automobile Association ("Association") "four diamond" or "four star" properties. Should this Association cease to exist or to publish physical and/or operational criteria, for hotels, or where otherwise necessary to further the purposes of this Chapter, the Director of Planning Services may utilize a similar set of criteria that he or she finds will meet the intent of this definition. The First- Class Hotel Standard shall also include, without limitation, operation of the hotel or resort hotel on a seven day a week basis, with sufficient room service, housekeeping (including housekeeping of the individual units), food and beverage service, concierge, Parking, bellman, banqueting, and meeting services. "Personal use" means the use or occupancy of a unit by a Condo-Hotel Unit Owner, or by a guest of a Condo-Hotel Unit Owner, or when a guest of a Condo-Hotel Ordinance No. 1729 Page 2 Unit Owner does not rent and pay for a Condo-Hotel Unit through the Condominium Hotel Manager or entity approved by the City pursuant to Section 93.15.10, provided, however, that no provision herein shall be deemed to permit a timeshare, fractional, or other vacation ownership unit. "Transient, Short Term" means a person who is receiving accommodations for a price, with or without meals, for a period of not more than twenty-eight (28) continuous days in any one (1) year, as described in Chapter 3.28 of the Palm Springs Municipal Code. "Short Term Transient" means the same as "Transient, Short Term." Section 2. Section 93.15.10 is added to the Palm Springs Municipal Code to read: 93.15.10 Condominium Hotels A. Purpose. The specific purposes of this Section are to implement General Plan goals and policies; to provide sufficient hotel rooms to support the use of the City's convention and conference center facilities; to protect the residential housing supply; to assure that Condominium Hotel projects are conditioned upon development approval in such a way as to ensure appropriate public health, safety, welfare and land use classifications and standards; to mitigate potential impacts of Condominium Hotels on traffic congestion, parks, and recreation, air quality, building design and safety, police, fire and emergency services; to assure the provision of other adequate public facilities; to provide hotel and resort hotel developers flexibility in the financing of new hotel and resort hotel projects; to prohibit conversion of existing hotels and resort hotels to Condominium Hotels; and to provide the City with appropriate regulation of licensing, taxation, operation, and ownership. B. ,Zones in Which Condominium Hotels are permitted; Planned Development District Application Required. A Condominium Hotel shall be permissible only in such zones and at such locations therein where a hotel use or resort hotel use would be permitted. Before an application for a Condominium Hotel may be approved, a Planned Development District application shall be prepared and adopted for the property on which the Condominium Hotel will be located and shall include a comprehensive land use plan that complies with the goals and policies of the General Plan and the requirements of this Section. The Planned Development District application shall include such components and elements necessary or appropriate to ensure the provision of services and improvements and the payment of fees, charges, and/or assessments to offset any negative or adverse financial or fiscal effects on the City or the City's ability to provide services to the project, neighboring properties, and the City as a whole. In approving a Planned Ordinance No. 1729 Page 3 Development District for a Condominium Hotel, the Planning Commission may impose reasonable conditions of approval. A Tentative Tract Map may also be submitted for approval with the Planned Development District application- C. Findings Required. In approving a Planned Development District for a Condominium Hotel, the Planning Commission shall make the following findings: 1. CC&Rs and/or other documents satisfactory to the Director of Planning Services and City Attorney will be recorded to ensure the long term maintenance and operation of the Condominium Hotel in accordance with this Chapter and the terms of any permits or approvals issued for the Condominium Hotel and to provide notice to future purchasers of the City's right to enforce the CC&Rs and/or other documents, this Chapter, and the terms of any permits or approvals issued for the Condo-Hotel. 2. The proposed Condominium Hotel does not involve the conversion or the replacement of a hotel, resort hotel, or hotel or resort hotel units, constructed on or before July 1, 2007. D. Condominium Hotel Regulations. It is the intent of this Section to ensure that Condominium Hotels are operated and governed in substantially the same manner as hotels and or resort hotels. The provisions of this Section are designed to protect and preserve the density requirements mandated in districts where hotels and resort hotels are allowed, as well as preserving future land uses for short term transient accommodations made available to the general public, visitors, and tourists. The regulations in this Section are intended to ensure that the land use and business operation of Condominium Hotels remain an exclusively commercial enterprise. The provisions of this Section are in addition to the regulations relating to hotel or resort hotel development found elsewhere in the Zoning Code. 1. All units in a Condominium Hotel may be used only for Short Term Transient accommodations. 2. Licensing will be required of all Condominium Hotels through all applicable state and local agencies. All licenses must be kept current. 3. A unified management operation shall be required as an integral part of the Condominium Hotel for all activities. 4. There shall be a lobby/front desk area where all guests and Condo Hotel Unit owners must register with the hotel Operator upon arrival and departure, as in a hotel or resort hotel. 5. There shall be a uniform key entry system operated by the Condominium Hotel Manager to receive and disburse keys for each Condominium Hotel Unit. Ordinance No. 1729 Page 4 6. There must be one central telephone system operated by the Condominium Hotel Manager in order to access each Condominium Hotel Unit, 7. All Condo Hotel Units shall be subject to the provisions of Chapter 3.28 of the Palm Springs Municipal Code relating to the imposition and collection of transient occupancy taxes. Each Condo Hotel Owner that allows the rental of his Condo Hotel Unit, either individually, through a rental agent, or through participation in a rental program, is subject to the provisions of Chapter 3.28 of the Palm Springs Municipal Code. The per diem Transient Occupancy Tax constitutes a lien by the City of Palm Springs and the City has the right but not the duty to foreclose on a Condo Hotel Unit for non-payment of taxes due. 8. Use of a Condo Hotel Unit arising out of an exchange program with an affiliated hotel property or the redemption of brand-related rewards or loyalty points shall be subject to transient occupancy tax per Municipal Code Chapter 3.28 based on the equivalent daily rental value for that room exchanged free of charge or otherwise reduced in the program. Such use shall not be considered personal use by the Condo-Hotel Owner, 9. Condo Hotel Units shall not be used for homesteading purposes, home occupational licensing, voter registration or vehicle registration. 10. As a commercial use, Condominium Hotels are to be entitled under the Hotel land use standards in any zone that allows the development of a hotel or resort use; included in these standards are density, parking standards, payment of in-lieu park fees ("Quimby" fees), and assessment of the public safety Community Facilities District. 11. Nothing in this Ordinance allows for the creation of time-share or fractional interests in any Condo Hotel Unit. 12. All Condominium Hotels must have approved signage viewable by the general public designating the property as a hotel or resort hotel. 13. A Condo-Hotel Unit may be used for Personal Use of the Condo-Hotel Unit Owner. Such Personal Use shall not exceed 75 days in any consecutive 12 month period nor shall a Condominium Hotel Unit be occupied by a Condo-Hotel Unit Owner for more than 28 consecutive days. Owners may delegate their right of use and occupancy directly or through an exchange program. At all other times, units shall be used for Short Term Transient occupancy purposes only. If a Condo Hotel Owner exceeds the 75 days of Personal Use restrictions described in this Paragraph, the Owner shall be subject to an assessment for each day in excess thereof payable to the City in an amount as the Council may adopt and amend by resolution or as may be otherwise addressed as a condition of approval at the time of the planned development district approval. 14. Each Condo-Hotel Unit Owner, the owners' association, and Condominium Hotel Manager or any other rental entity shall maintain and regularly make available to City such information, books, records, and documentation, and also shall allow reasonable access to individual units, Ordinance No. 1729 Page 5 as the City finds necessary to have or review in order to ensure that City may determine the Condominium Hotel's compliance with this Chapter and other applicable City laws, regulations, project conditions, and mitigation measures. The original and every subsequent Condominium Hotel Manager or other rental entity renting Condo-Hotel Units shall immediately advise the Director of Planning Services of its name, qualifications, address, telephone number, and the name of a contact person. 15. Any change or amendment to the CC &Rs shall require the approval of the Palm Springs City Council, 16. An owners' association shall be established to govern, maintain, and operate the Condominium Hotel and its services including but not limited to housekeeping for all public areas (including lobby and hallways), front desk, concierge services, and other hospitality services as provided in a hotel or resort hotel and in accordance with CC&Rs satisfactory to the City. The CC&Rs, as well as other relevant documents, shall require all portions of the Condo-Hotel including, but not limited to, landscape and open space areas; lobby; hallways; parking; banquet/ballroom facilities; conference; restaurant; retail; parking; recreational; and spa facilities; and other amenities and improvements (collectively "amenities"), as well as the individual Condominium Hotel units, their furniture, fixtures, equipment, to be maintained and operated in accordance with First Class Hotel Standard. 17. The CC&Rs shall require the owners' association to hire a single qualified professional management entity to maintain and operate the Condo-Hotel. The initial management entity shall have at least five (5) consecutive years of experience in the hotel management business in hotels that meet the First Class Standard and have at lease five other properties (nationally or internationally) under current management. The City shall be provided appropriate documentation to demonstrate that the management entity meets the requirements of this Section. The City Council may modify the experience standards for the initial management, or any subsequent management entity upon finding that the management entity has substitute experience meeting the interests served by the standards. The CC&Rs shall give the owner's association and management entity the right, power, and obligation to enforce the First Class Standard including, without limitation, the right to enter any portion of the Condominium Hotel, including individual Condo-Hotel units, and cure any failure to meet the First Class Standard. The management entity shall offer transient rental services to all Condo-Hotel Unit Owners. 18. The CC&R's shall give the Condominium Hotel Manager the exclusive right to provide to the Condominium Hotel, the property, and to Unit Owners, lessees, and other occupants, any or all "on property" services commonly provided at First Class Hotels, restaurants, and resorts, including without limitation, reservation programs, maid and housekeeping services, maintenance, laundry and dry cleaning, room service, catering Ordinance No. 1729 Page 6 and other food and beverage services, massage, and personal training and other spa services. The use of such services, if offered, shall be conditioned upon payment of such charges or fees as may be imposed on Unit Owners or hotel guests by the Condominium Hotel manager. The CC&Rs shall include mandatory and uniform maintenance requirements for Condo-Hotel Units. The owners' association and its designees shall have the exclusive right to restrict and control access to any and all shared facilities within the Condominium Hotel, provided the same does not restrict a Unit Owner's right of access to its own Unit. The Condominium Hotel Manager shall monitor and document the use of each and all of the Hotel Units. 19. All Condominium Hotels must have customary daily maid services, back of house services, and other hospitality services. 20. In addition to any other prohibition at law, including, without limitation, any other provision of the Palm Springs Municipal Code or the Zoning Code, Condominium Hotels and/or Condo-Hotel Units shall not be converted to any other use without the approval of the City Council. Section 3. The City Council has, as a result of its consideration and the evidence presented at hearings on this matter, determined that, as required pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") and the State CEQA Guidelines, that this Ordinance is an enabling Ordinance that recognizes Condominium Hotels are primarily a commercial use. This Ordinance allows new Condominium Hotels on property previously zoned for resort hotel and/or hotel uses and nothing in this Ordinance allows, permits, or in any way authorizes new or expanded uses beyond those permitted under those provisions of the Zoning Ordinance in existence at the time of the adoption of this Ordinance. On the basis of this review, the City Council finds that there is no evidence from which it can be fairly argued that the approval of this Ordinance will have a significant adverse effect on the environment. Section 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this Ordinance and shall cause the same, or the summary thereof, to be published and posted pursuant to the provisions of law and this Ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after passage. PASSED AND ADOPTED THIS 2ND DAY OF APRIL, 2008. STEPHEN P. POUGNET, MAYOR ATTEST: MES THOMPSON, CITY CLERK Ordinance No. 1729 Page 7 CERTIFICATION: STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE ) ss. CITY OF PALM SPRINGS ) I, JAMES THOMPSON, City Clerk of the City of Palm Springs, California, do hereby certify that Ordinance No. 1729 is a full, true, and correct copy, and was introduced at a regular meeting of the Palm Springs City Council on December 12, 2007, Re-introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council held on March 19, 2008, and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held on April 2, 2008 by the following vote: AYES: Councilmember Hutcheson, Councilmember Mills, Councilmember Weigel, Mayor Pro Tem Foat, and Mayor Pougnet. NOES: None. ABSENT: None. ABSTAIN: None. /JXmes Thompson, City Clerk D I 10 Z4O� ity of Palm Springs, California 4/