Cathedral City’s council members voted unanimously to phase out short term rentals, but one group says the fight isn’t over.

“It was never over for us, it was, what is our next plan of attack. These are our homes, these are where we like to vacation with our families,” said Karyn McQueen, Bay area resident and Vice President of ‘I love Cathedral City’.

Following the vote, the group ‘I Love Cathedral City’ created a petition against the ordinance and says they’ll be ready to give the council the required number of signatures next week.

That number is 10% of the registered voters in the area, equaling about 2,400 signatures.

“It’s just requesting that this goes on the ballot so that people can make the decision versus the city council solely making that decision,” said McQueen.

Some local residents like Teri Hargreaves have posted on social media, warning others about the petition created by ILCC as signature gatherers appear around the city.

“We know that this group was formed by people actually, ironically, that don’t live in Cathedral City. They basically are a group representing and who are composed of short term vacation owners and managers,” said Hargreaves.

ILCC says many of their current members live in the area part or full-time, but Teri says the group isn’t acknowledging the way rentals can destroy the community’s quality of life.

“And I personally know, I’ve experienced it because I have one operating behind my house,” said Hargreaves.

Karyn says issues like noise and trash aren’t a reflection of the rental owners, but rather the city’s lack of enforcement.

“The other big problem is that there’s a lot of illegal rentals being operated that the city hasn’t shut down,” said McQueen.

Karyn also says the city has violated the Brown Act by not making certain information public, including this letter from the Band of Cahuilla Indians that voices their support for short term rentals in Cathedral City.

With the rental phase out looming in the near future, ILCC members say they are looking forward to a chance at another vote.

“Our belief is that we can operate within the guidelines and have peace and harmony much like Palm Springs does,” said McQueen.

ILCC to present petition on short-term rentals to Cathedral City next week