Hacker Hostel 'Illegal,' Says Code Enforcement Unit

Two weeks ago Mountain View Patch in the city based on an article first published in The New York Times.

These houses provide short-term bed rentals for like-minded individuals—programmers, engineers, developers—who want to be close to , and , the well-known startup hangouts, incubators and accelerators in Mountain View.

It turns out that the hacker 'houses' as described in the AirBnB page for Chez JJ could be in violation of the city code.

According City of Mountain View Code Enforcer Chris Costanzo, there are two to three "illegal hostels/hotels" in the city, he explained and "they meet the definition of 'hotel' in the code," Costanzo said in an email to Patch, and "hotels cannot operate in any residential zone."

From the AirBnb site, one house is located on View Street in Old Mountain View and the other on Alice Street.

The city code defines a hotel as:

From the Zoning code: Guest rooms or suites, provided with or without meals or kitchen facilities, rented to the general public for overnight or other temporary lodging (less than thirty (30) days). Hotels provide access to most guest rooms from an interior walkway.

From the Hotel, Motel And Multiple-Family Housing Inspection And Enforcement code section: "Hotel" and "motel" shall mean any building containing six (6) or more guest rooms intended or designed to be used, or which are used, rented or hired out to be occupied, or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by guests.

In response to a request for comment, the captains at Chez JJ—Jade Wang and Jocelyn Berl—explained that they "create a force of social cohesion in the technology and science community."

They referred Patch to a March 2012 Wired article about a similar community in Cupertino of whom they're "an outgrowth." "Everything about our community of geeks is above board and legal," they said. (Here's the entire article for those who don't have a Wired subscription.)

Chez JJ added that they've "been in contact with the City of Mountain View, and to date, they have failed to inform us of any particular violations."

A letter—currently being drafted—informing Chez JJ about how to comply with the city code will be sent to them, explained Costanzo.

That letter will probably include Chez JJ's options of how to become compliant, which include, "cease operation or move into the appropriate zone," he said.

A hotel guest, or transient, of the hacker house would have to pay a hotel tax that the hotel operator would then pay the city. According to Costanzo, "to his knowledge" the hacker houses have not paid the transient occupancy tax.

Costanzo told Patch that the city became aware of the houses due to several complaints from neighbors because of "traffic, noise, parking and security."

He also acknowledge another possible violation. Chez JJ promotes their "taxi-cab service" to the airport and grocery store. In the City of Mountain View, the driver of a taxicab must have a permit.

"We are investigating this," Costanzo said.

Should the city allow hacker houses? Take our !

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