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CAJA Environmental Services, LLC
<br /> 9410 Topanga Canyon Blvd.,Suite 101
<br /> Chatsworth,CA 91311
<br /> Phone 310-469-6700 Fax 310-806-9801
<br /> An STR Ban Will Increase Reliance on More Environmentally Impactful Hotels and Thereby Increase the
<br /> Environmental Impacts of Tourism
<br /> An STR ban will also cause more visitors and residents in need of temporary overnight accommodations
<br /> to rely on hotels for those accommodations. STRs are operated out of existing homes and do not require
<br /> the same intensive use of water, energy, and other environmental resources that hotels require. Ramboll
<br /> concluded that the STR ban will result in increased criteria air pollutant and GHG emissions and associated
<br /> health risks, increased noise impacts, increased traffic congestion, and other potentially significant
<br /> environmental impacts. (See Ramboll Environmental Analysis.)
<br /> Ramboll's City-specific findings are consistent with a variety of recent studies and models concerning the
<br /> environmental and economic benefits of STRs. A 2018 analysis using a "Cleantech" model found that
<br /> when guests stay at an STR, significantly less energy and water is used, GHG emissions are lower, and
<br /> waste is reduced compared to hotel stays.'The 2018 analysis shows that in 2017, Airbnb guests in Europe
<br /> who stayed at an STR instead of a hotel achieved energy savings equal to that of 826,000 homes and
<br /> reduced water usage equal to 13,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.'Airbnb guest stays in North America
<br /> resulted in lower GHG emissions equal to that of over 354,000 cars and waste reduction of 64,000 tons
<br /> compared to hotel stays.' An article published in the Small Business Institute Journal also proposed that
<br /> sharing economy based accommodations are likely to consume less energy and water, and produce fewer
<br /> GHG emissions and less waste, than traditional accommodations.$ Further, the "Trip Generation Model"
<br /> prepared by International Transportation Engineers (ITE),9 confirms that a residential home generates less
<br /> traffic than a hotel. In addition, a 2020 report regarding STRs along the California coast found that "The
<br /> sharing economy can compete with hotels by offering a different sort of service with a unique structure.
<br /> STRs pop up throughout cities where there is demand for lodging. They do not require centralization or
<br /> maintaining inventory, which helps lower costs . . . Rentals offer a more sustainable option that requires
<br /> fewer resources and helps increase access with more diverse accommodation options and better value.""
<br /> For all these reasons, the transition of STR guests to hotel guests has the potential to result in increased
<br /> demand for water, electricity, and natural gas, and the increased generation of GHG emissions,
<br /> wastewater and solid waste, and increased traffic. And, as further detailed below, this can result in a wide
<br /> range of potentially significant environmental effects to air quality, energy, GHG emissions, land use and
<br /> planning, noise, public services, transportation, and utilities.
<br /> 5 Airbnb, How the Airbnb Community Supports Environmentally-Friendly Travel Worldwide (Apr. 2018),
<br /> https://news.airbnb.com/how-the-airbnb-community-supports-environmentally-friendly-travel-worldwide.
<br /> 6 Ibid.
<br /> ' Ibid.
<br /> 8 Midgett et al., The Sharing Economy and Sustainability:A Case for Airbnb, 13 SMALL BUSINESS INST.J. 2, pp. 61-
<br /> 63 (2017).
<br /> 9 ITE, Trip Generation Manual, 11th Ed. (TripGenl1), available for purchase here: https://www.ite.org/technical-
<br /> resources/topics/trip-and-parking-
<br /> generation/#:-:text=The%201TE%20Trip%20Generation%20Manual%20presents%20a%20summary%20of%20the
<br /> ,to%20the%20Trip%20Generation%20Manual.
<br /> 10 King and Jenkins, Unequal Access: Protecting Affordable Accommodations Along the California Coast(2020).
<br /> 8
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