In addition to implementing the new authority to increase penalties for violations of the City's building and safety codes, the proposed ordinance further enhances the City's code enforcement program by adding a prohibition against commercial advertisements for activities or uses that violate the code. For example, the new prohibition will prohibit advertisements of illegal short term rentals, marijuana dispensaries, illegal gambling, topless servers at coffeehouses, and other activities prohibited by the code.

As to short term rentals, they are not, and have not been, permitted by the code in residential zones. However, short-term vacation rentals have become very popular in the last few years. The Land Use Code outlines permitted uses in residential zones. It is a “permissive” zoning code – any use not specifically indicated in the code is prohibited. Section 9.32.020.E.1 of the code provides that no building, structure, or land shall be used, occupied, or maintained, for any purpose or use except as specifically provided in the code. Short term rentals are the same as hotels or motels, which are defined as places rented to transients for a term of less than 30 consecutive days. Hotels/motels are commercial uses that are only allowed in commercial zones with a conditional use permit. Thus, renting out a residence in the City’s residential zones for less than 30 days is prohibited.

Although the City has enforced the illegal use of residential properties as short term or vacation rentals for many years, the number of complaints has recently increased substantially and the City is now allocating more resources to enforce the code against short term rental uses. Complaints from residents include noisy parties disturbing the peace of the residential neighborhoods, increased vehicular traffic, and parking shortages. Enforcement of the prohibition against short term rentals can be very time and resource intensive because it can be very difficult to verify the violation. Unlike most other code enforcement cases, these violations are frequently not in plain view.

Many owners, operators, and facilitators of unlawful short term rentals in the City’s residential zones that engage in the short term rental business, use advertisements to make their unlawful short term rentals available to the general public and rely on those advertisements to secure customers. Prohibiting advertisements for unlawful short term rentals would help in reducing the supply of unlawful rentals and in reducing the occurrence of this unlawful activity by making it more difficult for prospective renters and owners and operators to connect with each other and to enter into rental agreements. The prohibition against the commercial advertisement of activities or uses that violate the code is therefore necessary to allow for more effective enforcement of the City's code and to help in the preservation of the public health, safety, and general welfare in the City. Furthermore, there is no right to advertise illegal activity. (See, Pittsburg Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations, (1973) 413 U.S. 376, 388; Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Pub. Serv. Comm'n of New York, (1980) 447 U.S. 557, 566.)

Introduce for reading and pass to second reading, read by title only, the ordinance entitled:

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GARDEN GROVE AMENDING SECTION 1.22.010 OF CHAPTER 1.22 OF TITLE 1, AND ADDING CHAPTER 8.02 OF TITLE 8, OF THE GARDEN GROVE MUNICIPAL CODE, TO ENHANCE THE CITY’S CODE ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM BY INCREASING ADMINISTRATIVE FINES FOR VIOLATIONS OF BUILDING AND SAFETY CODES AND PROHIBITING COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENTS FOR UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES AND USES.