Whether a hotel or motel can legally operate in Greenwood will now be tied to how often police, fire, code enforcement and the health department are called to it.
The ordinance, which will take effect immediately, is an effort to clean up the east side of the city, near the Interstate 65 and Main Street interchange, but will apply to all places of lodging throughout the city. If, at any time, a hotel has twice the number of calls for service as it does guest rooms within a one-year period, it will be placed on probation.
If, after six months of probation, the calls for service ratio has not decreased to less than 1.5 times the number of guest rooms, the city can revoke a hotel or motel’s license and force it to close.
The city council on Monday approved the ordinance on a vote of 8-1. Council member Linda Gibson voted against it.
Gibson said she had concerns that had not yet been addressed, including whether the allotted calls-for-service ratio outlined in the ordinance was too lenient. Before the vote, she asked what the current ratio is, but council member Drew Foster, who drafted the ordinance, did not have an answer.
“How do we know what that ratio should be if we don’t know what that current ratio is?” Gibson asked.
“I believe doing any less would probably result in a challenge in court that the city would lose,” Foster said. “Just writing the ordinance has already made the hotels communicate with each other, which I think is good.”
Hotel managers have set up an email chain and are sharing resident lists with each other, highlighting problem residents so the other hotels in the area don’t rent to them. Hotel managers are still asking that warrants not be included in the number of calls.
Foster also said the calls-for-service ratio outlined in the ordinance is similar to what other cities have used.
The rule will require that all places of lodging have a city license, and outlines procedures for probation and revoking the license for those that have a high number of calls for police, fire, code and health department violations. The issue was brought up and drafted by Foster, who is also a county prosecutor.
The licensing fee will be $75. Gibson had also argued that was not enough for the amount of work by city staff that would go into enforcing it. Hotels and motels will need to seek a new license every year, considering the city will look at a one-year time frame for determining whether a hotel or motel’s calls-for-service ratio is above the allotted amount of two times the number of guest rooms.
Since January 2018, police had responded to more than 500 incidents at a cluster of hotels and motels near the Interstate 65 and Main Street interchange in Greenwood. That does not include fire and medical emergencies, or health and code violations, city officials said.
The ordinance says the city’s police chief will carry much of the power, because the police department has the tools to track the crime and calls for service to specific locations in the city, but the fate of the hotels and motels will be in the hands of the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety.
Police Chief John Laut and the police department will review all license applications and renewals and decide whether to approve them. The department can also choose to place a hotel on probation, but the hotel or motel will have the right to appeal it, and that decision will go before the Board of Public Works and Safety for a public hearing and a vote.
What actions the business owners take to mitigate the problems will be left to them. City officials will not tell them how to operate their business, just that they need to make changes and in what areas, Foster has said.
A six-member committee was formed after the ordinance was first introduced in July, and met once to discuss how to streamline the process, changing some of the probation and revocation procedures, and putting the final authority in the hands of the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety.
Area residents showed up Monday night in support of the ordinance, arguing it is a good start, but the city needs to do more to protect them.
Diane Davis, president of the Fairways homeowner’s association, told council members she had gathered support from more than 200 area residents who wanted to see the ordinance passed.
“It is really threatening and scary to have people walk up to one of my neighbor’s garages while she’s unloading groceries, took her toddler inside, and this woman started taking things out of her garage. We’ve had patio furniture taken off of our porches. We’ve had people sleeping on the backside, by the fence, overnight. We’ve had people relieve themselves. We’ve had nap-sacks. I could go on and on,” Davis said.
“We need you to facilitate, on our behalf, a better way to protect our citizens,” she said. “It is an issue where we as taxpayers, homeowners, voters want more protection. Honestly, I think this ordinance would be a great beginning.”
