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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: 3/4/2024 Item No.: 7.c. Department Approval City Manager Approval Item Description: Review Draft Lodging Establishment Licensing Ordinance 1 2 Background 3 In 2023, the Minnesota State Legislature passed a bill that allows a municipality to adopt an ordinance 4 requiring lodging establishments to have a license approved by a city or town. As part of the licensing 5 ordinance, the municipality can require the lodging establishment to comply with state and local laws as 6 a condition of the license. Under the legislation, the annual fee for the license cannot exceed $150. 7 Below is the approved language contained in the law (Minnesota Session Laws 2023, Chapter 62, 8 Article 3, Section 16): 9 10 Sec. 16. \[471.585\] MUNICIPAL HOTEL LICENSING. 11(a) A statutory or home rule charter city or a town may adopt an ordinance requiring hotels as defined in 12 section 327.70, subdivision 3, operating within the boundaries of the city or town to have a valid license 13 issued by the city or town. An annual fee for a license under this section may not exceed $150. 14(b) An ordinance adopted under this section is limited to requiring compliance with state and local laws 15 as a condition of licensure. No other licensing conditions or requirements are permitted. 16(c) A city or town that has adopted an ordinance under this section may refuse to issue a license, or may 17 revoke an existing license, if the hotel fails to comply with the conditions of the license. 18 19 The City of Roseville requested the Legislature pass a law that allows municipalities to directly license 20 lodging establishments. Roseville’s request was related to issues occurring at a few hotels which have 21 ongoing building and safety code issues as well as pervasive criminal conduct. 22 23 While Ramsey County Environmental Health licenses hotels within the County, their focus directly on 24 health and sanitation issues. As a result, their ability to affect the problems occurring in Roseville is 25 limited. 26 27 Prior to requesting the Legislature allow municipalities to license lodging establishments, the City 28 adopted a repeat nuisance ordinance that charged lodging establishments a fee for exceeding 10 29 service calls (police, fire, code) in one month by the City. The trigger of more than 10 calls per month 30 was based on data on calls to all hotel properties in Roseville. From that data, there was a significant 31 difference in calls between 3 hotels and the other 9 hotels. At the time of adoption of the repeat 32 nuisance ordinance for lodging establishment in 2021, three hotels were averaging 19 to 45 calls per 33 month. The average number of calls for the other 9 hotels was 3 per month. 34 35 The data has been updated through 2023 and is shown below. While the number of calls for the top 36 three hotels has declined, there are a couple of reasons for the reduction in calls. Two of the hotels 37 have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the City that requires the hotels to implement 38 public safety measures that are intended to assist law enforcement and the hotel in reducing the number 39 of calls and improving public safety. While we have received fewer hotel-initiated calls, we continue to 40 see criminal activity and code issues at the two hotels with MOUs. 41 Page 1 of 4 Qbhf!82!pg!342