Mayor-President Guillory and Council Members,
I’m writing on behalf of our group of over 60 short-term rental owners to formally request a one-month pause in STR-related council deliberations and the creation of a group to study the two ordinances publicly
introduced on July 11. The goal of this group would be to allow input from city stakeholders and produce a final recommendation to the council based on the current ordinances.
We’ve been discussing this issue as a community for three years but until last week, neither the current administration nor the council had publicly committed their intentions to paper. After such a long incubation period, I can’t imagine this is how anyone expected the details of the council’s thinking to be shared with the public. Now everyone is scrambling to understand, rewrite and amend what’s been made public. This is a messy process that we believe would be best served by a collaborative, deliberate and thoughtful approach.
The council has made their intention to prioritize neighborhood safety clear. But in doing so, property owners that will be affected by these restrictions are only now coming to terms with the ramifications of the council’s position. This is made more difficult by the short timeline in which a vote will take place. A pause allows residents time to understand the proposals, why the council made the decisions they did and how these compare to other communities going through the same process.
Meanwhile, a work group can investigate the current ordinances and the suggested changes and compromises to work toward a final recommendation that incorporates all points of view. Real discussions can take place over
the details of these regulations, and plans can be made for their serious repercussions.
Attached is a preliminary proposal for the composition of a work group and how it might operate based on similar groups across the country. We make this request as a genuine effort to produce a workable ordinance in
place for our community. Thank you for your consideration.
 Sincerely,
 Mike Bass
mikebass@me.com
(337) 706-2524
Organizer,
Lafayette Tourism Lodging Assoc.
July 19, 2023
GOALS
The goals of this task force are to take the two ordinances made public on July 11 and (1) allow city stakeholders
the opportunity to weigh in on the regulations and their implications and (2) combine and amend the ordinances
based on existing council, public and stakeholder feedback into a final recommended set of regulations.
MEETING FORMAT
The task force will meet at least twice during the next month, in the City Hall meeting room or a similar space.
Meetings will be live streamed or recorded and made available to the public. Agendas, notes and other materials
will be made public.
GROUP MEMBERS
(1) The task force chair will be the sponsoring council member or a representative of the Mayor-President’s office.
(2) The meeting will be facilitated and supported by the Lafayette Community Development and Planning
department. Department staff will be non-voting participants.
(3) There will be 7 members with representatives from the following organizations (proposed):
Neighborhood Organization (Neighborhood Strong)
Neighborhood Organization (Coterie) Realtors of Acadiana Assoc.
Lafayette Travel Downtown Development Authority
One Acadiana (Urban Development) Lafayette STR Alliance (LTLA)
GROUP RULES
This task force will be a working group tasked with forming consensus for a final recommendation. As such
several rules will be put in place to avoid deadlock.
(1) Problems this ordinance is attempting to solve will be clearly stated.
(2) Data will be collected to support all regulations and made public. The group will agree on all data.
(3) Members will make their best effort to come to a consensus of at least 5 members on each section of
the ordinance. Members deemed by the chair to not be building a consensus may be replaced by another
representative.
RESULTS
The task force will recommend a final ordinance to be reviewed by legal. The chair or another council member
are then strongly encouraged to move this ordinance forward with the full support of the task force.
CITY WORK GROUPS REVIEWED FOR THIS PROPOSAL:
Baton Rouge, LA Jacksonville, FL Santa Cruz, CA
Shreveport, LA Chattanooga, TN Nantucket, MA
Fayetteville, AR Manzanita, OR Mobile, AL