Motel Ordinance to Limit Drifters and Convicts in City About to Take Effect

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Royal Oak officials will begin limiting the number of long-term guests at local motels next month as an ordinance city commissioners passed more than a year ago to cut down on the number of convicts and drifters in the city.

The ordinance, approved in November 2013, was prompted in part by the 2011 murder of Nancy Dailey, 80, of Royal Oak, by two allegedly drug-addicted parole absconders who had been staying at the Seville Motel, 28300 Woodward, The (Royal Oak) Daily Tribune said.

The killers, Tonia Watson and Alan Wood, have since been convicted and sentenced.

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• Guests Check In, But Will They Check Out?

After Dailey’s murder, police began regularly checking guests’ criminal records. As a result, the number of parolees living in Royal Oak dropped from 35 in 2012 to eight in 2013, the newspaper said.

Motel owners were given until April 2015 to bring their properties into compliance with the new law, which the city’s Building Department will begin enforcing April 2.

Only three of the city’s seven motels followed through with the property upgrades – fire alarms, fire suppression sprinkler systems and electrical upgrades – required to rent to guests for more than a month at a time.

The Seville submitted plans for the upgrades that allow extended stays, as did City Motel, 111 W. 12 Mile, and Palms Motel, 29806 Woodward.

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Patch file photo