(Okoboji)– The Okoboji City Council Tuesday evening gave special recognition to Owen Primavera who’s stepping down from the city’s Board of Adjustment. Primavera served on the board 52 years, many of those as chairman. In an interview with KUOO news, Primavera reflected on his years of service and offered some advice to those looking to buy real estate in the lakes area…
“They need to check the background of what that lot was like beforehand, because sometimes a realtor may not disclose that that was once a wetland. And people then buy, they build and then all of a sudden they have problems. And that’s not up to us to tell them that. They’ve got to check that out on their own before they build.”
Primavera says his number one concern for the lakes area and Okoboji in particular, is the proliferation of Air BNB’s, or vacation rentals…
“And that affect on people that are paying all the taxes that we’re paying, and I mentioned that some people’s have gone up $7,000 in one year, it’s a shame. They ought to be able to know that if they buy a house in the city of Okoboji, that they don’t have to worry about an Air BNB being built next to them. But that’s changed. And people are complaining about it. Sometimes there will be 15 people. Who’s checking to see if the Fire Marshal examined that? I mean it’s a risk. And these people don’t live here. They don’t really appreciate what we have. But I think we need to protect our way of life. And I challenge the council to do that, even if they have to step over a line and be taken to court over it. If we don’t fight for ourselves, who is?”
Primavera says local governments need to push the legislature and the Governor harder for local control on vacation rentals.
