by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

The Claremont City Council received and filed its latest update to the city’s hotel and motel ordinance at its February 11 meeting. The report listed the amount of police-related calls for service and welfare checks — 365 and 232, respectively — received in 2024 at the five lodging businesses in Claremont.

The update included calls to the now demolished Knights Inn at 721 S. Indian Hill Blvd., on which a new Residence Inn is under construction.

The staff report from Deputy City Manager Katie Wand noted calls for service had gone down steadily in recent years, from 450 in 2023 and 771 in 2022. The same decline was also seen for welfare checks, which totaled 311 in 2023 and 663 in 2022.

A majority of all calls still come from Motel 6, just south of the 10 Freeway at 840 S. Indian Hill Blvd., but they are in decline as well. Welfare checks at the location totaled 195 in 2024, compared to 219 in 2023 and 427 in 2022. Calls for service tallied 196 in 2024, 208 in 2023, and 359 in 2022.

Council member Sal Medina asked why DoubleTree by Hilton, 555 W. Foothill Blvd. saw an increase in calls for service from 2023 to 2024, from 100 to 118.

“Over half of these calls — the 118 calls for service — were 911 calls, meaning that someone called 911 from the DoubleTree,” Wand said. “It could be that someone misdialed 911, or that they were calling for a reason. But those 911 calls don’t necessarily mean [they’re] just stemming from hotel operations.”

In 2023 the City Council adopted its renewed hotel/motel ordinance following months of input from stakeholders. It was aimed at curtailing criminal and nuisance activity such narcotic sales, gang activity, violent crimes, and prostitution and human trafficking, in and around lodging businesses, particularly those near the 10 Freeway.

“The Ordinance is a stand-alone chapter in the City’s Zoning Code and imposes several new requirements for hotel/motel operators citywide,” according to the city’s website.

Among the requirements hotels and motels must abide by include not re-renting rooms when guests check out before their minimum length of stay is up — 18 hours for motels and overnight for hotels; requiring guests to provide a valid credit or debit card to verify their identity, even when paying with cash; scanning guest’s IDs; maintaining a registry of guest information; requiring permit parking and the installation of cameras in common areas, entry points, and parking areas; and other maintenance and inspection requirements.

By paying a $1,250 fee, lodging businesses could apply for a conditional use permit to be exempt from certain requirements. The DoubleTree, Hotel Casa 425, at 425 W. First St., and the Residence Inn applied for the CUP.

The council directed staff to create an interdepartmental team made up of Wand, City Attorney Alisha Patterson and other city employees, community members, and Claremont PD to deliver annual updates about the ordinance’s effectiveness. The team also provides quarterly reports on the ordinance that include CPD calls, code or building violations, reports of graffiti and other nuisance activity at or near the affected properties.

Casa 425 and the DoubleTree had no violations or nuisance activity in the latest quarterly report, spanning October 1 through December 31, 2024. Motel 6 had no violations, but was singled out in that “Community Improvement addressed flower vendors and graffiti outside of Chevron/McDonalds and the old Greyhound Station,” according to the report. Claremont Lodge reported one minor violation that was corrected within two days and six cases of nuisance activity.

More information is at claremontca.gov, search “Hotel and Motel Ordinance.”

Also at its February 11 meeting, the council unanimously approved a temporary urgency ordinance through April 9 that suspends certain hotel and motel ordinance requirements — such as the 30-day maximum stay — in order to help people displaced by the January wildfires in Los Angeles County.

The next meeting of the Claremont City Council is set for Tuesday, February 25 at the council chambers, 225 W. Second St.