Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll and her husband, John, have again been cited by a City of Vero Beach Code Enforcement officer for violating an ordinance prohibiting short-term rentals in residential districts for periods of less than 30 days. The latest citation of warning against the Carrolls, delivered June 28, alleges a home they own at 530 Camelia Lane was “occupied and used as temporary quarters by transients.”
The warning citation also claims the property is being advertised for transient rentals. Both the Vice Mayor and her husband declined to comment or to return email and phone messages.
On a website featuring vacation rental homes, one guest in the Carroll’s home wrote, “My family and I had a great time in Vero Beach. We loved this house. It was fairly close to the beach but just across the street from a great park. The house was very roomy and the kids had their own space including a couch and tv area upstairs. We recommend this house for your family.”
The Carroll’s were earlier warned in July, 2011 and again in July, 2012 for renting a homes they owned on Seagrape Lane for periods of less than 30 days. At the time the Carroll’s received the first two code enforcement warnings, John Carroll was serving as a member of the city’s code enforcement board.
Carroll stepped down from the Code Enforcement Board in October, after City Attorney Wayne Coment rendered a legal opinion that his reappointment to the board subsequent to his wife’s reelection to the City Council was prohibited by Florida law.
In 2011 and 2102, the Carrolls challenged the city’s ordinance through an attorney. Despite their protests and challenges, the code has not been changed, and the city has not backed down from its interpretation of the prohibition against short term rentals in residential neighborhoods.
In a June 24, 2011 memo to Tracy Carroll, Planning Director Tim McGarry wrote, “Although the length of stay of transient occupants is not specifically addressed in the City Code, the City Planning and Development Department has historically applied the ’30 day’ limit spelled out in Section 509.13 of the FLorida Statutes, as the statorily-required threshold for transient tenancies in public lodging establishments.”
McGarry, whose department is responsible for enforcing city code, said several other homeowners are currently being investigated for violating the city’s
Indian River Guardian 
Tracy Carroll is obviously one of those “do as I say and not as I do” type of politican.
Ms. Carroll once again is trying to use her position on city council as a favor giver to herself. However it does not apply to her constituents. I wonder how much a meager citizen would be fined if they, three times ignored code enforcement? She continues to break the law.
It is a shame that any of our elected officials feel they are above the laws their constituents are expected to obey.
Unfortunately, in our society today, Codes, rules and, yes, even laws are scoffed at. As I ride to work every morning on my motorcycle, I
witness several red light runners, and just about everyone is texting..
People circumvent our sign ordinances by paying someone to stand in the sidewalk and stick a banner in our face. Near Bob Evans, every weekend, a guy sits on a chair in the sidewalk and sleeps while holding a sign for his Gold buisness. Clearly wrong on multiple counts. Landscape trucks block public roads for hours to mow a yard, There is no enforcement, and little penalty. So the madness continues. A 50 dollar fine is hardly a deterent for any of these or the countless other infractions that people commit on a regular basis. No one will willingly admit they are for Anarchy, but actions speak louder than words. But
before you point fingers ask yourself, HOW ARE YOU LIVING. Sometimes people make bad buisness decisions. They do what they have to do to keep going. The Carrolls pay 20,000 dollars in property tax between the two homes they own. Do you think they wanted to lose their house on Seagrape.They are clearly not the only people doing this, not by a long shot. The difference is, those other people are not on the City Council.
“Both the Vice Mayor and her husband declined to comment or to return email and phone messages.”
I find this the most disturbing part of this article.
This seems to be a pattern by the Vice Mayor. Zip up her usual motor mouth when she does something wrong. But….when she does not like something others do – or when others disagree with her, wow watch her motor mouth go into fast forward.
They would be fined the same, $50.
Plenty of constituents are not obeying, either.
WELL AT LEAST VICE MAYOR CARROLL IS VERY CONSISTANT WITH HER DECISIONS! SHE HAS SNUBBED HER NOSE AT CITIZENS RIGHTS BY DENYING A LEGITIMATE PROCLAIMATION FOR” Humanists Recognition Week”. NOW WE ARE MADE AWARE OF A FACT THAT THE VICE MAYOR IGNORES THE CITY REALTY ORDINANCES BY TURNING HER VERO REAL ESTATE PROPERTY INTO A MOTEL 6. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT HER DECISIONS AFFECT HER CONSTITUANTS IN VERO AND WE WHO ARE LIVING IN OTHER PARTS OF INDIAN RIVER COUNTY DO NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH HER! TO MIMICK AN OLD WW11 EXPRESSION. REMEMBER COUNCIL MEMBER CARROLL, KEEP VERO ALERT!
I think we need to change the ordinance to allow short-term rentals. The quality of renter is usually high-class. Especially for vacation rentals.
Due to economic conditioms, I still own my previous home in unincorporated indian river county. I have been lucky enough to have found a great long term tenant to rent. I throw money at the deal every month, but I am hanging in there. The recent decision by the county to remove restrictions on short term rentals has certainly added to the vaue of my property as I now could potentially rent by the week and profit greatly. That would certainly be true, also, in the City, espescially, beachside. If the intention is to continually ignore the codes of the city
in an effort to have the code changed, its working. And you know that
there is at least one vote to do this. Keep in mind that sales tax need be collected, registration with the state is required, insurance is different, and federal income tax is due on rental income. My, point is that people who are doing this, whether they rent their entire home or just a “mother-in-law suite” are ignoring more than just city codes.
And its not really fair to their neighbors. Mr. McGarry, at the last Pand Z
meeting assured the commision that they would investigate any compaint, including anonymous ones, regarding code violations.