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CAJA Environmental Services, LLC <br />9410 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Suite 101 <br />Chatsworth, CA 91311 <br />Phone 310-469-6700 Fax 310-806-9801 <br />increased GHG emissions from the construction and operation of new hotels, and construction and <br />operation of new hotels. <br />Increased VMT <br />Eliminating all STRs in the City will foreseeably increase GHG emissions by displacing existing STIR guests <br />to less regulated areas farther from their travel destinations, which will increase VMT and GHG emissions. <br />Ramboll concluded that the STIR ban would result in an increase of daily mobile emissions of GHG by 443 <br />percent, contributing to a significant increase in emissions in the area in direct conflict with regional and <br />state goals to reduce VMT and GHG emissions from vehicle trips. (Ramboll Environmental Analysis, p. 4.) <br />Increased Criteria Air Emissions from Hotels in City and Outside City <br />Eliminating all STRs in the City will relocate existing STIR guests to less efficient hotels and other <br />replacement facilities likely to result in greater GHG emissions than STRs. When guests stay at an STIR, <br />significantly less energy is used, and GHG emissions are lower compared to hotel stays.33 Ramboll <br />concluded that the increased energy demand associated with hotels compared to STRs would result in a <br />179 percent increase in GHG emissions per person. (Ramboll Environmental Analysis p. 8.) This is <br />consistent with the 2018 Cleantech analysis, which found that significantly lower GHG emissions result <br />from a stay in an STIR compared to hotel stays,34 and the Small Business Institute Journal article, which <br />proposed that sharing economy -based accommodations are likely to produce fewer GHG emissions than <br />traditional accommodations because the sharing economy takes advantage of "slack" resources which <br />already exist, rather than creating new facilities that emit additional GHGs.35 As such, GHG emission <br />increases reasonably related to the imposition of an STIR ban will result in significant impacts to the <br />environment and adversely affect the achievement of plans and policies adopted by state and local <br />governments to reduce GHG emissions. <br />Construction and Operation of New Hotels <br />Eliminating all STRs in the City will foreseeably increase GHG emissions by stimulating replacement <br />accommodation construction and expansion that will increase GHG emissions related to new material <br />manufacturing, transportation and installation, heavy equipment use, and maintenance, as well as <br />operation of these new hotels further contributing to GHG emissions increases that Ramboll projected from <br />increased reliance on hotels. Specifically, the construction and operation of new hotels would result in the <br />increased GHG emissions from a number of sources, including: <br />• Construction: emissions associated with construction -related equipment and vehicle use. <br />• Area Sources: emissions associated with the on -site use of powered equipment. <br />33 Airbnb, Airbnb: Helping travel grow greener, p. 3 (Mar. 2017); Midgett et al., The Sharing Economy and <br />Sustainability: A Case for Airbnb, 2017 SMALL BUSINESS INST. J. 13.2, pp. 61-63. <br />34 Airbnb, How the Airbnb Community Supports Environmentally -Friendly Travel Worldwide (Apr. 2018), <br />https://news.airbnb.com/how-the-airbnb-community-supports-environmentally-friendly-travel-worldwide <br />35 Midgett et al., The Sharing Economy and Sustainability: A Case for Airbnb, 13 SMALL BUSINESS INST. J. 2, p. 61 <br />(2017). <br />22 <br />