The Howard County Council has scheduled an emergency legislative session for Monday night to introduce a bill that could increase fines for people who host illegal for-profit parties at private homes. and pools.
District 4 council member Deb Jung has proposed the bill. She said she has received complaints from people in Savage, Dayton and Columbia about private hourly pool parties being hosted in residential neighborhoods. They result in dozens of cars lining streets and issues with parking and noise.
The commercial parties are advertised through Swimply, an online service that allows people to rent out pools by the hour, and these parties are popping up across Howard County, Jung said.
“There’s a lot of concerns and a lot of disruption as a result of this,” Jung said. “All of this activity is illegal under our zoning laws.”
Jung said the by-the-hour nature of the parties violate the county’s zoning laws. Fines are currently $250 per violation, but she wants to increase the fine to $5,000 to match legislation passed earlier this month in Montgomery County. There, officials voted to increase fines from $25 to $5,000 per violation for “unlicensed or unpermitted commercial picnics, dances, soirees, parties and other entertainment … occurring at a home.”
She said she fears the parties will shift to Howard County if Howard’s fines aren’t increased to match Montgomery’s.
The bill will be placed on the agenda for a public hearing and vote on July 30.
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