LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Clark County Commissioners have unanimously approved amendments to the short-term rental ordinance.
It was originally passed by commissioners in June 2022.
This comes after Clark County District Court judge Jessica Peterson ruled parts of the ordinance were "vague" and "overbroad."
That includes things like letting officials enter short-term rentals at any time or without notice to inspect properties and prohibiting parties, weddings, and other events.
The original ordinance would have banned them if they exceeded the maximum occupancy of the residential unit.
However, the court didn't find the entire ordinance unconstitutional.
That allowed the county to move forward with issuing short-term rental licenses.
"The county took many of the court's suggestions in drafting these amendments to ensure the amendments address the court concerns with the ordinance," county attorney Lisa Logsdon said.
Channel 13 has reviewed the ordinance amendments.
Now, officials must provide 48-hour notice before inspecting any homes but the documents state it must be to check compliance with the short-term rental license. For owner-occupied residential units, the County said inspections will be limited to areas of the home that are used by short-term rental guests.
When it comes to gatherings, county documents state any party is prohibited.
However, that doesn't apply to home owners and their guests if it's unrelated to any short-term rental booking.
The ordinance still outlines some standards guests will have to follow.
Between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., using pools, spas, barbecues, and firepits is prohibited.
As for lighting, only motion-sensitive outdoor security lighting is allowed during those hours.
One short-term rental owner addressed commissioners saying the regulations hurt the local economy but commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick said they weren't supposed to be in operation to begin with.
"I started my vacation rental journey in Las Vegas. I've had to move my business to California and Florida where I gained licenses for multiple properties in both areas," short-term rental owner Christopher Markus said. "I've displaced over 20 people's jobs here in Nevada. They have families and kids and houses of their own that they still to this day haven't been able to find other work."
"These were never allowed. Today, they're still not allowed except we've gotten an ordinance and now we're going through the process because the state told us we had to," Kirkpatrick said. "We have not impacted anybody that was supposed to be in business. All of these are 100% illegal today."
The Greater Las Vegas Short-Term Rental Association is pushing back against those claims saying the County never had the legislative authority to ban them in the first plan, which makes the ordinance unlawful.
"These aren't just simple things the County has to "clean up language" on. These are major and serious attempts by our County officials to violate people's Constitutional protections," the association wrote in a statement. "The County may choose to play down these and other issues in their ordinance as if they are no big deal but our association takes them very seriously and so did the court by striking them down as unconstitutional."
The statement went on saying many of the amendments which were passed "do very little to fix the infirmities the court had serious issues with" and the county didn't amend sections like fines and penalties.
The association is appealing to the Nevada Supreme Court to try to stop the licensing process.
Logsdon addressed the matter during Tuesday's meeting.
"The district court has not ordered the county or commissioners to work with the association and the Nevada Supreme Court has exempted this case from the mandatory settlement conference requirement," Logsdon said. "But as with any litigation, the District Attorney's office has tried to work with the association's counsel and for resolution of this matter. But in this case, many legal issues presented may not allow for such resolution."
Lodgsdon said the district attorney's office has been working with the association's counsel and has asked the association to submit a written settlement offer.
She added that as of Tuesday, they haven't received one.
The association said that's because they were told the Commissioners were not interested in discussing a settlement.
"As far as the County's claim that they are waiting for the association to submit a settlement offer, it should be noted that on March 16, 2023, the County's DA informed us of the lack of interest by Clark County Commissioners to discuss a settlement," a statement from the association read. "If the County Commissioners have now changed their mind, then we welcome that conversation."
Meantime, the county is moving ahead and held a lottery drawing for short-term rental applications in Clark County last week.
Clark County is offering up to 2,800 short-term rental licenses.
However, officials said only 1,306 have filed for a license as of last Wednesday.
According to the county website, after 30 days, the Clark County Bureau of Enforcement will determine license eligibility of each application.
