City Studying Motel Owners’ Lawsuit Over Stays

Buena Park officials are reviewing a lawsuit brought by motel owners hoping to overturn an amendment to a 4-year-old city ordinance that further restricts long-term stays in motels.

The suit, filed March 15 in Orange County Superior Court by Motel Owners Assn. attorney Roger Diamond, asks for a temporary restraining order preventing the city from evicting motel residents who have lived there for 30 days. The suit also seeks a permanent injunction that would overturn the city’s original motel ordinance.

Assistant City Manager Wes Morgan said Buena Park is still evaluating the lawsuit and no court date has been scheduled.

“These things take a long time to assess,” Morgan said, “and we have 60 to 90 days to deal with it.”

The suit stems from an amendment, passed in December, to the city ordinance restricting motel stays to 30 days.

The council amended the ordinance to limit the time people can stay in motels to any 30 days in a 90-day period. The amendment requires motel owners to keep occupancy records that would allow the city to monitor residents’ stays.

The original ordinance simply limited residency to 30 days. But many people would stay for 29 days, leave for a brief time, then come back to start the cycle all over again. The amendment to the ordinance prohibits motel owners from allowing such guests to move back in until after 90 days have elapsed.

City officials cite both measures as the primary reason for increased safety in the city and lower crime over a 10-year period.

But members of the Motel Owners Assn. don’t agree.

“If the issue is crime, then I would think more crime happens in homes and apartments than in our motels,” said Tatsun Lin, owner of Gas Light Motel at 7777 Beach Blvd.

“We take money from residents on a week-to-week basis,” Lin said. “If we find there are some bad people living in our motel, we don’t take their money and we ask them to leave.”

Jeannette Jennings, who had lived at the Gas Light Motel for more than nine months before she, her husband and their four children were forced to leave, said the rules have placed a financial burden on the family.

“I’m not disputing that there are some people living in motels who are up to no good, but the city needs to look at the overall picture,” Jennings said.

“You don’t see the police harassing homeowners or people in apartment complexes, using any excuse they can find to get rid of them.”

Jayanti Patel, owner of the Century Motel at 7412 Orangethorpe Ave., said the crime prevention argument used by city leaders has no merit.

“If someone were selling drugs, or some other criminal activity was going on, it’s common sense that those people wouldn’t stay in one motel for a long period of time. They would want to keep moving so they wouldn’t get caught,” Patel said.

Andre Briscoe can be reached at (714) 966-5848.