Board wrestles with how to keep 'condo‑hotel' units commercial, not residential

Planning board members repeatedly warned that condo‑hotel projects can morph into long‑term residential uses unless the city has enforceable safeguards in place. The discussion focused on how the city will verify that units remain transient and how the restriction would be enforced over time.

City attorney David Toles told the board the city is constrained by state law on regulating short‑term rentals: "The State of Florida has preempted the city's ability to regulate short term rentals," he said, and added that staff will nevertheless review condominium documents and apply code enforcement where necessary. Board members asked whether condo‑doc amendments could later allow residential use; staff said that zoning conditions and the city's review of recorded condo documents would create enforcement avenues and that property tax treatment (commercial vs. residential) also constrains misclassification.

The applicant’s representative, Todd Lawler, described a commercial operation model intended to keep units in a rental pool so unit owners cannot unilaterally operate them as long‑term rentals: "Owners of a unit cannot Airbnb it; they cannot rent it out — it has to go through the group inside the unit," Lawler said. Nonetheless, board members pressed for stronger, codified measures and the resolution adopted a condition requiring the applicant to submit condo documentation for staff review before building permits are issued.