Friday, April 30, 2010

Delay in law barring vacation rentals

Delay in law barring vacation rentals

Delay in law barring vacation rentals

Posted: 29 Apr 2010 10:37 PM PDT

Napa County is pushing back the start of an outright ban on homes used as vacation rentals, waiting for experts to study other options.

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to delay the implementation of a new ordinance that would explicitly outlaw short-term vacation rentals in unincorporated parts of the county.

The ban is now tentatively set to begin on Dec. 1, instead of June 14 as originally planned.

Supervisor Diane Dillon, the lone "no" vote on the board, said she voted against the postponement "because I don't agree with it." Dillon, along with Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht — both slow-growth advocates — has refused to vote for anything that would allow vacation rentals to operate in agricultural areas of the county.

While it technically has been illegal for decades to rent a home in Napa County for less than 30 days, lax enforcement and a general ignorance of the law prompted supervisors late last year to tentatively adopt a new ordinance that strengthens the prohibition and increases penalties.

Supervisors agreed at the time to wait until June 14 to implement the new ban. Dozens of opponents convinced them in the meantime to look at whether vacation rentals should be legitimized because they might provide a much-needed economic boon to the area.

In March, a vocal group of Napa County residents proposed a new approach that would allow up to 300 vacation rentals in the county, consistent with the estimated 300 vacation rentals operating illegally now.

Napa County Planning Director Hillary Gitelman promised to come back to the board with an analysis of the proposal, but Tuesday she told supervisors she needs more time.

Supervisors agreed to hold off until Dec. 1 before implementing the previously agreed-upon ban. This will give county staff more time to study what might happen if the county partially lifts its ban on vacation rentals. It will also potentially allow supporters of short-term vacation rentals a chance to place the issue before Napa County voters in November.

As it turns out, a landmark law designed to limit growth in Napa County could force to the ballot the question of whether to rescind the ban.

According to Minh Tran, a lawyer for Napa County, a so-called Measure J vote likely would be required in order to allow private property owners in the unincorporated county to offer short-term rentals to vacationers.

Measure J — passed in 1990 and extended by Measure P two years ago — calls for any proposed change in zoning in the county's agricultural preserve to go before the voters.

In previous Measure J votes, residents approved the expansion of Bistro Don Giovanni north of Napa and the Stanly Lane pumpkin patch in Carneros, and rejected the expansion of a restaurant site at Oakville Grade, a market in Pope Valley or the creation of cabins near the Napa River in Carneros.

County staff is studying whether lifting the ban on vacation rentals — even partially — would truly trigger a Measure J vote. Gitelman said she hopes to come back with an answer to that in the next one to two months.

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