By MAUREEN L. CAWLEY
Staff Writer
WILDWOOD – With Christmas just around the corner, some residents might soon find out there is no room at the Inn – or at least at the motels where they are now living.
An ordinance introduced by commissioners here last Wednesday limits the duration of stays in the city’s hotels and motels. The proposed law stipulates: "No transient visitor can occupy a hotel, motel or multiple dwelling establishment for more than 30 days, nor can said transient extend their stay for longer than 30 days by moving into another unit within the same establishment."
“A motel unit is not designed for year-round occupancy,” Mayor Ernie Troiano said.
Nonetheless, the rising cost of rent has forced many low income residents into motels and boarding houses. Some use propane heaters and others use prohibited combination heat and air conditioning units, Troiano said.
“These people deserve to live in some sort of comfort and these motels are not designed to do that,” he said.
If passed, the ordinance would require motel owners to maintain a registry of all occupants, including a record of each guest’s permanent address and the date that the “occupancy commenced.” Motel visitors will also be required to show a drivers license or other photo ID to be kept on file during their stay, according to the proposed ordinance.
Troiano acknowledges that many of the city’s motel and boarding house residents can not afford more suitable housing, but he said the current situation is unacceptable and often causes public safety issues, including increased crime.
“It also has a tremendous impact on the school system,” he said.
Many of the motel residents pay for their stays with housing vouchers from Cape May County.
In addition to the vouchers, Wildwood also accepts section 8 housing, Troiano said.
“The county’s been using Wildwood as their base to send people for years. You name it, we took it,” Troiano said.
Many of the city’s boarding houses and motels have been demolished to make way for new development, Troiano said, and the ones that are left are unsuitable for long-term stays.
The lack of suitable housing is an issue that BLANK knows a lot about. Nardi, Miller Smith
The city’s food pantries specifically ask for donations of “heat and eat” items because many of their clients are limited to preparing meals in a microwave.
What will happen to residents when their length of stay is up?
“I think that is the county’s responsibility,” Troiano said. “Homelessness is a situation that the county has got to start addressing.”
The new regulations would apply to hotels, motels and multiple dwelling establishments, but Troiano said he was uncertain how the new regulations would affect the proposed condotels, which are a hybrid of individually-owned condominiums and hotel units.
The length of stay restrictions would apply to units in the condotels that are designated strictly as motel rooms, Troiano said, but the cost of these rooms would make it unlikely that people would use them for long-term stays.
“I really don’t think that will be a problem in these places,” he said.
As for the impact of the ordinance on condominium stays, Troiano said he was looking into it.
The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) defines hotels as any building “which contains ten or more dwelling units or has sleeping facilities for 25 persons and is kept, used, maintained advertised…as a place where sleeping or dwelling accommodations are available to guests.”
A multiple dwelling unit is defined in part as “any building…in which three or more dwelling units are occupied or intended to be occupied by three or more persons living independently of each other.
Transient is defined as a stay of not more than 90 days by a person who has a residence elsewhere.
“We want to control the types of housing that are in our community,” Troiano said.
Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the ordinance and to hear public comment on it at their next meeting on Dec. 14.
Maureen L. Cawley can be e-mailed at maureen.cawley@catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story by calling 624-8900, ext. 250.
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