By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Council report: April 11, 2025

A brisk Claremont City Council meeting Tuesday ended with the council voting 4-0 to extend an urgency ordinance suspending parts of the city’s hotel/motel ordinance to allow families displaced by the Los Angeles County fires in January to seek shelter in Claremont. Council member Jed Leano was absent.

The urgency ordinance, a renewal of a similar one passed in February, suspends certain lodging requirements outlined in the hotel/motel ordinance, allowing city hotels and motels to rent spaces to those affected by recent wildfires for periods longer than 30 days. Tuesday’s ordinance was amended to require lodges to gather identification for those seeking stays, a caveat put forth by Council member Sal Medina who said enough time had passed for fire victims to replace their IDs.

The urgency ordinance went into effect Wednesday and will sunset on Tuesday, July 1 — in tandem with Governor Gavin Newsom’s March executive order which extended suspensions of state law to bar businesses from converting hotel guests to tenants after a stay longer than 30 days, among other protections.

During the passage of the urgency ordinance on February 12, the City Council asked staff to bring the ordinance back by April 9 to assess its impacts and if it was still needed.

At Tuesday’s meeting, City Attorney Alisha Patterson said there’s one report of a displaced family utilizing the ordinance. They’re being housed at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, she added.

Patterson also said that since the urgency ordinance went into effect, there was a decrease in the number of calls for service and welfare checks at Claremont hotels and motels. “We’re not saying it was because of the ordinance,” Patterson said, “that’s the data.”

Per the staff report, in the 30 days after the urgency ordinance was adopted, Hotel Casa 425 reported one call for service; Claremont Lodge, one call for service, three welfare checks; DoubleTree, one call for service, one welfare check; and Motel 6, 12 calls for service, 22 welfare checks.

In the 30 days before its initial adoption, Hotel Casa 425 logged two calls for service; Claremont Lodge, five calls for service, five welfare checks; DoubleTree, four calls for service; and Motel 6, 28 calls for service, 23 welfare checks.

The City Council can move to end the urgency ordinance before July 1, according to the staff report.

Other items

• Via a 4-0 vote, the City Council ratified the appointment of Andrew Velebil to the city’s traffic and transportation commission for a term through August 31, 2028, and Jim Lam to the sustainability committee for a term through January 31, 2029.
• Claremont Mayor Corey Calaycay was recognized for serving on the City Council for 20 years. “Elected on March 8, 2005 and sworn in on March 16, 2005, Mayor Calaycay is serving his sixth term on the Claremont City Council,” City Manager Adam Pirrie said before congratulating Mayor Calaycay on the milestone.

The next meeting of the Claremont City Council is set for Tuesday, April 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the council chambers, 225 W. Second St.