Item No. 4 Public Comment_Menke, Sheri

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September 25, 2022 Re: 9/26/22 agenda item #4 Dear Chair Pham and Santa Ana Planning Commissioners, It’s good to see you again, and thank you for your service to our community! Please vote, NO, on ZOA No. 2022-03. Please do not vote to prohibit short term rentals. This issue has not been given fair or adequate consideration. I am a property owner, a resident and a small business owner in this city and I have not been treated fairly. The current staff report falls short of a proper assessment and recommendation. It portrays short term rentals in two extremes either proliferation or prohibition. In truth there are many options for sensible regulation and taxation. Almost a month ago councilmember Lopez graciously met with me and my husband to hear our proposal to regulate and tax short term rentals. She gave us thirty minutes of her time and was willing to hear us out. Thank you Ms. Lopez. She then said the planning director would be in contact with me. After a week or so I hadn’t heard anything, so I emailed the city to find out when I would be meeting with the planning director. The staff did call me back quickly and scheduled a meeting for me with Mr. Thai on Sept. 12th at 2:00pm. He was very professional and commended me for attending commission meetings and getting involved with this issue. However, this so-called meeting was all of ten minutes and I did not have the time to discuss a more fair, realistic and more sensible approach for a resolution to this issue of short term rentals. He showed me to the door and a couple of hours later at the commission meeting that evening the staff announced they would be recommending an updated code that explicitly prohibits short term rentals. Thank you for meeting with me Mr. Thai, but I would like an opportunity to have a real meeting with you and your staff and other STR operators like myself. We would like to have conversations and a serious consideration of a fair and adequate program for STR’s that would benefit the city tremendously. You should vote, No, send this item back to the staff for a more thorough review. We are all invested in this community just as much as you are. Our concerns have not been heard. The process has not been fair nor transparent. We are not a nuisance. We are ethical small business owners that generate income and create jobs in this city. We want to work with the city, neighborhoods and residents! My neighbors are on record supporting me. Please vote no, and insist on a legitimate process and study that would support a short term rental program in Santa Ana and bring revenue, diversity and unity! Thank you for your time and consideration, Sheri Menke 1032 W. Park Lane Santa Ana, CA 92706