I attended the first public workshop last week regarding the general issue of a noise and/or nuisance ordinance. It became clear, however, that the major issue generating repeated complaints for the county code enforcement and sheriff’s department is the use of residential houses being repeatedly rented for events (e.g., weddings, reunions) in single family neighborhoods.
What is happening is both companies and individuals are advertising homes in single family neighborhoods as event venues. (e.g., weddings, family reunions, etc) In some instances, for example, an event coordinator may have two weddings in one weekend at a building built as a single family residence and located in a single family residential subdivision.
According to one event planner at the meeting, the Destin/Walton County area is becoming very popular as a wedding and event venue. It was also indicated at the meeting that event coordinators are receiving more and more requests to hold events in more single family residences. At a time of economic down turn and reduced lodging rentals, more owners are wanting to pursue using their rental house for events to generate income. Events continue an income flow for the owner, event planners and various service providers.
There did not seem to be an issue with events held in other venues such as mixed use developments like Seaside, Rosemary or in places like Eden State Gardens or the country club. The issue is the business of staging the event in a residential neighborhood.
Neighbors are complaining about the noise from the bands and large numbers of people milling about, event attendees’ parking throughout the neighborhood due to the lack of parking spaces at the house venue, lack of adequate restroom facilities for large numbers, (won’t elaborate on this one) the disruption to the neighborhood from the activities of trucks and other vehicles connected with set up and take down, unruly behavior of event guests, trash, etc.
The focus of the meeting has been the houses being used for events in subdivisions with a land use of “Residential Preservation”. (RP) This is the typical single family neighborhood. The primary use is residential. Commercial is only allowed if it is established in the subdivision plat or the covenants and restrictions. In the RP areas where this has become a problem, commercial is not allowed via the plat or covenants and restrictions.
The county has indicated that some of the event activity in the RP neighborhoods is commercial and should not be allowed. The difficulty is distinguishing between a non-commercial one-time event (e.g., family rents house, stays there and has a family reunion) from the continuing rental of the house in which the the primary purpose of the rental is for an event venue.
The Fire Marshall expressed a concern that the activity was being held in dwellings not set up for the nature of the use. He cited concerns over the occupancy overload of the dwelling, lack of sprinklers, and other potential safety issues.
There was discussion and suggestions about many aspects of the issue including requiring business licenses, limiting hours, ensuring liability of owners for violations of laws, etc. I have attached a brief summary of the first workshop prepared by the facilitator. Commissioner Cecelia Jones is also attending the workshops as well as representatives from the TDC, Sheriff and county staff.
The next meeting is scheduled to be held at the South Walton High School Media Center Room on Monday, 2/22/10, at 3:00 pm. The South Walton High School is located on the west side highway 331 just north of highway 98.
All those interested in this issue should try to attend.
