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Article
Courtesy of The Panama City News Herald
By
Jim Thompson
Published April 21, 2020
MIRAMAR BEACH — In the days since Gov. Ron DeSantis
signed an executive order for a temporary halt to the rental of vacation
properties as a means of controlling the spread of the new coronavirus in
the state, the Walton County Sheriff's Office has received a steady stream
of calls from people who have seen new vehicles and people in rental
properties near their homes.
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The 14-day order is
set to expire on Friday, and it was not immediately clear
Tuesday whether it would be extended. A Tuesday morning
inquiry to the governor's press office on whether the order
would be extended had not been answered as of Tuesday
afternoon.
The current order, filed on the evening of March 27, was
instituted by DeSantis in an attempt to halt what the order
called "an increase in individuals fleeing to Florida from
out-of-state locations where 'shelter-in-place' orders are
being implemented and/or community spread (of COVID-19, the
serious respiratory illness associated with coronavirus)
exists. ."
The order goes on to note that "many cases of COVID-19 in
Florida have resulted from individuals coming into the State
of Florida from international travel and other states,
posing great risk to Florida residents . ."
In Walton County, nine of the 26 COVID-19
cases reported through the Florida Department of Health
involved travel. Seven of those cases were reported between
March 27, when the governor signed the vacation rental
order, and early Tuesday afternoon. Those cases involved
travel to or from Illinois, New York, Michigan, California,
Tennessee and Alabama. Some of those cases were directly
linked to travel, according to the FDOH, while in some cases
it was unknown whether travel was a factor. |
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Specifically, the governor's order suspends vacation rental
operations, prohibits making new reservations, and also
prohibits accepting new guests. The order does not apply to
hotels, motels, resorts, inns, timeshares or "non-transient
public lodging establishments," defined as facilities that
rent accommodations for at least one month or longer.
Corey Dobridnia, public information officer for the
Sheriff's Office, couldn't put a specific number on the
calls the Sheriff' Office has received from people concerned
about potential violations of the order. She did say,
however, that "the calls have been consistent."
In most instances, Dobridnia said, the Sheriff's Office has
simply directed callers to the state Department of Business
and Professional Regulation, noted in DeSantis' order as the
lead agency for guidance and directives on the executive
order.
But in a few cases, according to Dobridnia, deputies have
gone to rental residences to verify whether a complaint was
warranted, and if it was, the complaining party then took
their complaint to the DBPR. Complaints can be filed online
with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation
at
https://www.myfloridalicense.com/complaintlist.asp?SID=
On a related note, Dobridnia said the Sheriff's Office is
also receiving complaints about out-of-state property owners
who have apparently come to their Walton County residences
from out-of-state to ride out stay-at-home orders issued in
their home states, even with the stay-at-home order that
became effective Friday across the state of Florida, and
restrictions on travel into the state.
Half-hour drives along Scenic Gulf Drive and its
condominium-jammed side streets on Monday afternoon and
Tuesday morning revealed cars bearing license plates from a
variety of states, including New York, Texas, Iowa, Ohio,
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Colorado, California, Indiana
and Tennessee.
Locally, Dobridnia said, the Sheriff's Office is using its
social media channels to dissuade people from traveling to
Walton County.
"As much as possible, we're just discouraging people from
coming," she said.
Elsewhere in the area, Catherine Card, public information
manager for the city of Destin, said the city's code
enforcement currently is looking into six citizen complaints
of possible violations of the executive order halting
vacation rentals. Regardless of whether the city finds a
violation or not, the case will be forwarded to the DBPR for
resolution, Card said.
"We've had a very good compliance rate," Card said, noting
that as the order went into effect, the city's code
enforcement office sent a letter to short-term rental
property owners notifying of the governor's action.
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