HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-17-2007 City administration files hotel ordinance with Council PRACK
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Office of the Mayor
NEWS RELEASE
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
3:00 PM
City administration files hotel ordinance with Council
Contact: Chuck Leone, City Attorney, 235-9241
A comprehensive ordinance governing residence hotels was filed today with the South
Bend Common Council, culminating weeks of research by the city's legal staff as well as
consultation within the administration, and with council members and hotel operators.
The ordinance creates a three-tier classification system, based on police calls for service —
an approach suggested in a study published by the U.S. Department of Justice. South
Bend police have conducted a preliminary calls-for-service assessment of all local hotels
and found:
• Most South Bend hotels would fall in the Tier 1 category, which includes the most
well-managed and trouble-free facilities. The rate of calls for service would be less
than or equal to 0.35 calls for service per room per year.
• One South Bend hotel would fall in the Tier 2 category, on which moderate
regulations would be imposed. The rate of calls for service would be between 0.36
and 1.0 calls for service per room per year.
• Two hotels, including the Wooden Indian, would fall in the most regulated, Tier 3
category. The rate of calls for service would exceed 1.0 calls for service per room per
year.
"We believe the proposed standards imposed on South Bend's hotel industry will reduce
the problems caused by the few establishments generating most of the public safety
personnel responses," said City Attorney Chuck Leone. "The intention of the ordinance is
to impose minimum requirements upon well-managed, trouble-free hotels, and to require
the problematic hotels to take action designed to reduce crime and violence on their
premises."
Comprehensive regulations represent one of the avenues the city is pursuing to bring
about changes that would affect the Wooden Indian, 1631 Lincolnway East, the site April
24 of a fatal shooting of South Bend Police Corporal Nick Polizzotto. Tightened licensing
standards for all hotels are also aimed to improve conditions at residence hotels or
motels, in which patrons reside for 30 days or more. They would ensure that police, fire
inspectors and code-enforcement personnel have the most appropriate regulative tools at
their disposal.
City officials have had conversations with neighbors, including Indiana University South
Bend, which is building new student housing nearby. The city also has explored
acquiring the Wooden Indian but the owner has "a highly inflated view" of the property's
worth, according to Mayor Stephen J. Luecke.
"This ordinance will be another tool—not just for the Wooden Indian but for any
nuisance property—to help them comply with community standards so they're good
neighbors to those around them," Luecke said. "One way or another,these properties will
change for the better."
The Common Council will have first reading of the proposed ordinance next Monday,
Oct. 22. After it is assigned to a committee, there will be opportunity for public input and
discussion. It could return for a public hearing and action as early as Nov. 2.
The city's Legal Department researched similar ordinances earlier this year before
drafting this proposed ordinance. For more than a month, the draft has been circulating
among city departments, council members and representatives of the hotel industry for
input. However, the ordinance, as filed, is still subject to revision based on input from the
public and from Council members.
Calls for service, according to the ordinance, are defined as emergency police, fire,
medical and code-enforcement calls that result in a representative being dispatched to the
hotel, including calls in the surrounding neighborhood that can be traced to hotel staff,
registered guests or visitors. Multiple calls for one discrete event shall count as one call
for service, according to the ordinance.
According to the proposed ordinance, by Jan. 15 of each year, South Bend police will
have determined each hotel's call-for-service ratio from the previous calendar year and
notified hotel operators of their classification for that calendar year.
• Tier 1 hotels would not be required to make any changes in methods of operation.
They will pay an annual licensing fee ranging from $95 to $135, which reflects the
city's cost to administer and issue the licensing.
• Tier 2 hotels would be required to have a staff member on the property 24 hours per
day, maintain an operable surveillance camera in the lobby and parking areas at all
times, preserving tapes for at least 30 days, and participate in a crime-prevention
assessment by South Bend police or their designates. Tier 2 hotels will pay a $175
licensing fee.
• Tier 3 hotels would pay a $505 annual licensing fee, "which is caused by the cost of
monitoring and assuring compliance with the ordinance," according to Leone.
A hotel classified as Tier 3 is required to:
• Meet all requirements of Tier 2 hotels.
• Require all guests to furnish government-issued photo identification at the desk,
retaining a copy of the ID along with name, address and telephone number of
employer and emergency contact, as well as home contact information and date of
birth of guest.
• Submit to the police the names, addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers
of all employees, agents and managers—along with a criminal history for the
previous 10 years before the license is issued.
• Submit a copy of training materials given to employees as well as management
practices and procedures for check-in, security and emergencies.
• Maintain a strict 21 years or older policy for both guests and visitors, unless the guest
is accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
• Retain names and registration information of all people who have been arrested on
the property, caused a disturbance, acted in a manner that necessitated a call to the
police or did not follow hotel rules. The hotel is required to prohibit these parties
from entering any portion of the hotel property for at least six months.
• Refuse to rent to known prostitutes, gang members, drug dealers or any person either
visibly intoxicated or under the influence of illicit substances.
• Prohibit visitor access to any room between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
• Prominently post a copy of rules in the hotel registration area and all guest rooms.
The City administration "believes that this ordinance, when joined with the City's
existent regulation of unreasonable noise, curfew, fireworks,pan handling, solicitation
and loitering, will add greatly to public safety and to the quality of life in South Bend,"
Leone wrote in a cover letter to Council President Timothy A. Rouse. "We hope the
Common Council will review this ordinance favorably."
Hotels that have not previously operated in South Bend are presumed to be Tier 1 hotels
for the purposes of licensing and fees during the first year of operation. The city may
change the status of any Tier 1 or Tier 2 hotel during a calendar year in writing to the
owner if a hotel's call-for-service ratio has increased.
Annual licenses will be issued upon payment of fee and—for Tier 2 and Tier 3 hotels
only—a police inspection ensuring the facility is "in substantial compliance with the
operation requirements" of its classification.
The ordinance lays out provisions for license denial, appeal and revocation. Owners who
choose to operate without a valid license or fail to comply with any requirements could
face fines of$2,500 for each day of violation.
"No civic-minded hotel owner need be concerned,"Luecke said. "But as owners of
properties like the Bull's Eye learned in the past,when we set our sights on a nuisance
property we have the will to act to transform that location."
After neighborhood concerns about continuing problems with criminal activity, Bull's
Eye Discount Liquors, along Lincolnway West,was acquired by the city and demolished
in September 2000 to make room for a new Teachers Credit Union bank branch.
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