“Grover Beach eyeing vacation rentals” plus 1 more

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 11:05 PM PST

In November 2009, a group of Grover Beach residents told the City Council about some homes they thought were being used as vacation rentals in their neighborhoods, which they said were causing noise and traffic problems.

Now, after direction from the council, the city's planning commissioners will consider rules to regulate vacation rentals.

"(People) just come here for a weekend and have a party and tear the place up and leave," Councilman Bill Nicolls said. "That's the sort of thing we want to eliminate."

While Nicolls acknowledged this doesn't appear to be widespread, he said having rules in place would give the city authority to regulate the rentals.

The Planning Commission on Tuesday will consider an ordinance that would allow vacation rentals — defined as residences rented for 30 days or less — in all of the city's residential areas.

If subsequently approved by the council, those renting out their homes would be required to apply for a vacation rental permit and could be subject to fines of up to $500 for multiple violations.

However, commissioners have several other alternatives.

They could forbid vacation rentals in certain areas zoned residential, such as areas with single-family homes, or try to ban them entirely.

In January, the council received a petition said to have about 200 signatures from people requesting that rentals be regulated and banned from residential areas.

Only 14 vacation rentals pay the city bed tax of 10 percent of the rent they charge. The transient occupancy tax, which is also reported by hotels and other lodging facilities, makes up a small portion of the city's revenue.

In the 2007-08 fiscal year, the tax brought in $232,893; the following year, that dropped to $230,768. This year's budget estimates an even bigger drop to $225,000.

City Manager Bob Perrault said that while extra revenue would be nice, the main point of the ordinance is to regulate the rentals so they can co-exist in the community.

San Luis Obispo County and communities including Morro Bay have vacation rental regulations.

Pismo Beach has approved an ordinance restricting the rentals to any residential areas except downtown but is waiting on certification from the California Coastal Commission.

Reach Cynthia Lambert at 781-7929. Stay updated by following @SouthCountyBeat on Twitter.

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Santa Cruz County to again weigh vacation rental ordinance

Posted: 23 Feb 2011 01:44 AM PST

SANTA CRUZ -- A decade in the making, Santa Cruz County embarks today on what may be the beginning of the end for unregulated vacation rentals throughout the county.

For neighbors around popular beachfront locations such as Pleasure Point and the harbor, the new rules promise some comfort after years of being jarred awake by parties that one modest resident would only describe as something that a 9-year-old shouldn't see.

"They're just on a different schedule than I am," sighed another, Robert Murillo, who has seen the numbers of vacation rentals bloom around his 30-year harbor-area home in recent years. He says there are now six on his block, when there didn't used to be any.

Santa Cruz County's surf and sand has long been a draw for travelers from around the world, helping spread the county's reputation as a vacation playground, with families or groups of 20-somethings packed into beachfront bungalows for a few days in the sun. Today at the Planning Commission, the county will -- once again -- try to establish a few playground rules.

"Our means of redress will be when the license comes up for renewal," Murillo said of the new law, which would license vacation homes for the first time. "That would be very, very helpful, because it will be an incentive for vacation rental owners to manage their properties well."

In 2009, tourists helped pump $650 million into the local economy, creating more than 8,000 jobs, according to the California

Travel & Tourism Commission. Many of those visitors stay in beach rentals, and attempts to regulate them have been resisted by owners who argue that they are being punished for the actions of a few bad seeds.

Vacation rentals in the Live Oak area between Capitola and Santa Cruz -- two cities with existing vacation rental rules -- would also be capped at no more than 15 percent of the neighborhood homes, and no more than 20 percent on any one block.

The rules would also limit the number of people in vacation rentals and require homeowners to give neighbors a local contact, in case problems arise. Some prior proposals, including over caps on the number of times per week an owner could rent a home, have been removed.

It is not the first time the county has taken up the issue, as the Planning Commission has been tinkering with the law since last summer. Similar rules were floated in 2001, but homeowners pledged to regulate themselves, Santa Cruz County Supervisor John Leopold said.

"That didn't work out so well," said Leopold, who predicted the ordinance would eventually pass. If the Planning Commission approves, the law could go to the Board of Supervisors next month.

Leopold said the Internet has helped homeowners who want to rent their homes to vacationers. About 570 homes pay the county's transit occupancy tax as vacation rentals. It is possible there are more vacation properties, with neighbors reporting a spike in the last few years.

Bill Tysseling, executive director of the Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce, said his group hasn't taken a position on the law, but said existing laws should be enough to handle problem properties. But there isn't enough money, he added.

"The core of this is our inability to afford appropriate law enforcement to manage our neighborhoods," Tysseling said.

Despite the rancor, the county estimates there were just 28 law enforcement calls to vacation homes during 2009 and 2010, an average of just more than one a month.

One of those came from Murillo's wife, he said. The problem with rentals, Murillo added, is not knowing who your neighbors are at any given time.

"Somebody could be burglarizing that house," Murillo said. "And as a homeowner, I wouldn't know whether it's the vacationer back there making noise, or the burglar back there making noise. You never know."

The ordinance would not cut back on the number of vacation homes, but could prevent more from being set up in Live Oak.

"We just don't want the density to get any further," said Karen Mallory, another harbor-area resident. "This does give us the right to challenge current vacation rentals. The one's that aren't run well, it gives us a chance to document that and challenge their renewal."

IF YOU GO

COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION
WHAT: Vacation rental ordinance
Where: County Governmental Center,
701 Ocean St., 5th floor
WHEN: 9 a.m. today

Vacation Rentals

Saturday, February 26, 2011