tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post3780486728176088763..comments2023-09-16T04:58:07.261-04:00Comments on the Annandale Blog: Zoning proposal on short-term rentals could create hardship for HOAsAnnandale Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543558586252790593noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-47334539988310963632018-03-18T13:44:37.370-04:002018-03-18T13:44:37.370-04:00It is clear to me that "the fix" on allo...It is clear to me that "the fix" on allowing STR's in residential communities is definitely in, and is mostly likely due to either heavy lobbying by such companies as AirB&B or the dollar signs that the county sees when STR's will be allowed. As with Arlington, Fairfax will most likely impose some sort of tax on the rental of rooms in STR's, thus getting more money from a home that previously was solely residential and only paid property taxes. Penny Gross indicated to us in our last community meeting that it is fruitless to try and combat this new legislation and that our only hope lies in how it is regulated. Make sure to demand that homeowners be present at ALL times that rooms are rented out, or you really will have no recourse should unruly renters near you make you life miserable. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-70203107373488998872018-03-12T21:35:00.854-04:002018-03-12T21:35:00.854-04:00As if we don't have enough problems with all t...As if we don't have enough problems with all the renters, and the BoS, Board of S--t wants to s--t all over us rather than make this county a better place that people want to live in. They chose to turn our single family and townhouses into sardine cans. VOTE THEM OUT!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-5155202463349749422018-03-12T13:47:49.851-04:002018-03-12T13:47:49.851-04:00To be precise, the business is the motel business....To be precise, the business is the motel business. The motels-in-our-neighborhoods business, which as it stands, is illegal. Amazingly, the Board has sat on its hands for years now as over 2,500 illegal motels have been operating for years in our neighborhoods they waited for everyone else to act. <br />The problem is not the Department of Code Compliance; it is the Board of Supervisors, use of County Attorneys (the ones who represent the Board’s interests) to enforce what the Commonwealth Attorneys (Our attorneys) should be enforcing, plus the clueless rubber-stamping, dog and pony show of the Board of Zoning Appeals and the Planning Commission. <br />Following the dictates of an ‘Affordable Housing’ plan developed by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and implemented in Los Angeles County, the Board loves the idea of using illegal businesses to replace legal business in commercial areas and both legal and illegal business to replace families in stable valuable residential neighborhoods. It provides a means for wealth concentrating banks and other international entities to monetizing and bank the value we in the middle and upper middle working class neighborhoods created in our communities over the last two, three and four decades. <br />BTW, SCAG also proposed the ZMOD type land use control coup de grace the Board’s development committee is working on now. Basically a move away from a rule-of-law type Comprehensive Planning land use system to a rule of decree by the international financial and development community. With that in place the looting of Fairfax will be a fait accompli, there will be nothing for community activists to do, presumably an intended consequence. <br />One thing we can be sure of, the Supervisors in Mason and some nearby Districts will be well equipped with inexcusable excuses for introducing such an atrocious proposal. The totally inappropriate word “fairness” will come up often. Contrast this Board’s “The ‘sharing economy is the happening thing” attitude with the existing hell-no-to-that-crap ordinance that today requires over $16,000 just to apply for an SUP for a motel in residential neighborhoods, i.e. BnB. The Board that passed that ordinance was a Board that truly honored its fiduciary duty to protect and defend the families, and their neighborhoods and their commercial sector. <br />Today the BOS doesn't worry about representing us when the land use predators and international corporations can put so much money into their pockets with plans like motels in neighborhoods. The McMansion, Residential Studio Unit saga continues to morph, cloaked in a corporate manufactured need for "Affordable Housing" mantra. <br />We blew the last election four years ago thinking it was a blue and red thing (thank you again for trying Mollie). It’s not about political parties; it is about the families, all the families. <br />Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-59724412663255574592018-03-11T16:18:30.652-04:002018-03-11T16:18:30.652-04:00Sure hope your survey is better than the skewed ST...Sure hope your survey is better than the skewed STR survey the County conducted. The County didn't even include a question asking if residents favored or opposed Short Term Rentals. They also never included a "None of the Above" response option. The fix was in.<br />https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/planning-zoning/sites/planning-zoning/files/assets/documents/zoning%20ordinance/short-termrentals/strsurveysummary.pdfAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-55312145166089156732018-03-11T13:59:12.488-04:002018-03-11T13:59:12.488-04:00Thank you Donna for your very thoughtful article. ...Thank you Donna for your very thoughtful article. Unfortunately, our county can't be bothered to do an analysis of the consequences of allowing this type of business in a community with an HOA. Neighborhoods, such as single-family houses, that have a voluntary citizen association or no citizen association at all have depended on the County to enforce Zoning Codes to protect them on issues like parking, trash, noise, etc. HOAs have had in its power the ability to enforce these issues on their own. But right now the county is working overtime to rewrite zoning code ordinances (zMOD--zoning modification) to make it easier for anyone, especially developers, to disregard basic regulations that have protected neighborhoods for the past 40 years. The ordinances are being revised so that they are so general and dumbed down that it’s almost impossible to break a regulation and get written up. The county is also working to condense as many areas as possible into CBCs, PDH, PDA so that developers can expedite their developments to make housing denser and more profitable for the developer. This allows a developer to give less green space, less parking (30% reduction in parking), higher building heights, and less of a need to protect adjacent properties from an inconsistent new development. The county encourages their Code Compliance investigators not to write up infractions if at all possible, because they don’t want to have to deal with an appeal from the person receiving a ticket. The county doesn’t want their Zoning Ordinance Appeals (ZOA) to have to hear a case and make a decision on an infraction. The ZOA hates having to do its job. Pretty soon there will be no zoning ordinances that will need to be enforced. <br /><br />STRs are businesses no matter how you want look at it. There will be negative consequences, because a home, condo, or townhouse are residential and incompatible with a business. The county doesn’t care what the effects will be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246743662284890173.post-73298947129322388582018-03-11T01:26:32.328-05:002018-03-11T01:26:32.328-05:00Very well put, Ms. Jacobson! I, too, live in Lafay...Very well put, Ms. Jacobson! I, too, live in Lafayette Village; have been here since 1998 and still love it. I share her concern about STRs and while I hope a strong majority of my neighbors would vote against allowing them here, I'm not certain of it. I suppose an informal survey might give us some insight...?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com