“Congratulations City Council – You have created a short-term rental ghetto in Mission Beach”

By Gary Wonacott

Congratulations to council member Campbell and the supporting cast:

You took over a small beach community, allowed a rampant proliferation of short-term rentals from 2010 to 2020, a period that coincidentally coincides with a loss of nearly twenty-five percent of our population. Then you legalized it by solidifying what is now an area surrounding Belmont Park which is, in my opinion, an STR ghetto.

Some of you have already concluded that these properties were chosen because they support Belmont Park. Fake. Investors have learned that these areas in particular show better performance for STRs, as they have been let down in many cases in poor condition.

They may continue to charge high STR nightly rates under current conditions rather than upgrading properties for long-term rentals.

Of course, you could make things worse.

The city was sued by the STR Alliance of San Diego, using legal terms such as discrimination, equal protection, in an attempt to eliminate all regulations, although I assume they will settle for the elimination of all STR density limit at Mission Plage.

This is going to be a little hard for you to understand, but the Mission Beach community is held together, its glue, by longtime residents. I don’t know if you can imagine what happens when there isn’t enough glue, but someone out there needs to understand this and take action to stop the cancer from spreading any further. We had locals beaten by STR visitors as they were emboldened by their numbers, by their density.

Hello, is anyone there? Look at the board; is this “equal protection” for long-term tenants and owner-occupied properties in the ghetto area?

Gary Woncott is a former president of the Mission Beach City Council and a resident of Mission Beach since 1974.