DEL MAR — Long-time civil servant and current City Council member Dwight Worden is hanging up his government hat next month after around 50 years of service in various city roles.
Worden announced Monday that he would resign effective Sept. 24 after battling recent health issues. Worden said he decided it would be better to step down now rather than complete the next two years of his council term.
“I just returned from two weeks in Iceland, which helped persuade me that my health and wellbeing and the City would be better served by bringing this chapter of my life to a close,” Worden said in a statement at Monday’s council meeting.
The city will have 60 days after his resignation to appoint a replacement to serve the remainder of his term or to hold a special election.
Worden has served on the City Council since 2014, including two years as mayor. He previously served as City Attorney from 1977 to 1983 and then as special counsel to the city on multiple occasions until retiring from law in 2001.
He then held roles on multiple city committees and as a volunteer until he joined the City Council.
“I want to acknowledge and thank the nine Councilmembers I have served with. It has been a great pleasure for me to work with our outstanding City Manager and staff, present and past, over many years,” Worden said.
He added that while he looks forward to taking a respite, he still plans to be active in the community.
Mayor Dave Druker, another familiar face on the council for the past 20 years, will also step away when his term ends this year. His seat and those of council members Tracy Martinez and Dan Quirk are up for election in November.
Worden said he would be present for two more meetings, allowing him to see through the approval of the city’s long-in-the-making short-term rental ordinance. On Monday, the council discussed a specific portion of the ordinance regarding the exemption of monthly rentals.
Short-term vs long-term rentals
City leaders plan to bring forward a proposed ordinance governing short-term rentals, or STRs, at the Sept. 9 council meeting, following multiple meetings and discussions over the past two years.
Council members have agreed on several ordinance elements, including limiting STRs to a primary residence (where someone permanently resides for at least six months of the year), setting a citywide cap of 129 new STRs, and requiring a three-night minimum stay.
Del Mar residents will also be asked to approve a measure making STRs subject to a 13% transient occupancy tax in the November election.
At the urging of many local STR owners, the ordinance will also grandfather existing STRs and exempt them from some of the regulations until they change ownership or fail to renew their permits.
STRs have been generally defined as rentals for 30 consecutive days or less. On Monday, city leaders discussed more specific definitions to exempt monthly rentals from the ordinance.
Some owners have noted that they rent out their units month-to-month, and the 30-day-or-less time frame would make some calendar months of the year subject to STR regulations and others not.
To address this, staff proposed defining long-term rentals as those subject to a rental agreement for a fixed term, such as a yearly rental, a periodic tenancy period, such as month-to-month, those with a term longer than 30 consecutive days, and all rentals for a month.
“Rentals for a month” includes rental periods starts at the beginning of a calendar month and going through the end of the calendar month, as well as rental periods that start on a day within the calendar month and goes through the same day of the subsequent calendar month, according to the city.
“That creates the ability for staff to understand what ‘monthly’ is without having to say the number of days,” Druker said.
Several residents spoke in favor of this change.
“I think you found an elegant solution,” said Laura DeMarco. “Thirty days is just hard.”
Karen Lare said she and many other residents at Del Mar Woods rent out their units for a 30-day minimum period, but they do not present themselves as short-term rentals. Lare recommended defining short-term rentals as those under 28 consecutive days to account for February.
However, city staff said a 28-day limit could present confusing inconsistencies with the language of other laws, such as the state requirement for accessory dwelling units to be rented out for more than 30 days.
“That is simpler for staff and the City Attorney’s office for enforcement purposes,” said Assistant City Attorney Wendy House.
Druker noted that more details can still be ironed out on Sept. 9, but the council agrees to exempt monthly rentals from the STR ordinance and transient occupancy tax.
This story was updated to correct the transient occupancy tax rate proposed for short-term rentals, and to add clarification about “rentals for a month.”
