Vacation rental ordinance stalls

Vacation home rental owners vented their displeasure over
proposed new county regulations last week, saying the latest
version of a vacation rental ordinance is overkill that will put
some people out of business.
As written, the ordinance “is like trying to kill a fly with a
baseball bat,” said Sea Ranch resident and vacation home property
manager Barry Weiss at a Sonoma County Planning Commission hearing
last week.
The proposed county ordinance won’t affect approximately 350
vacation rentals at Sea Ranch and along the Sonoma Coast but it
would require permits and impose restrictions on approximate 650
known vacation rentals in the county’s unincorporated area.
Responding to complaints about noise, parking, garbage,
trespassing, crime and other disruptive activities occurring on
vacation rental properties, county supervisors appointed an ad hoc
committee last year to work with property owners, vacation rental
managers, lodging industry representatives and others to find
common ground for permitting vacation rentals that are now
basically unregulated by county zoning laws.
But the latest draft drew flack from vacation rental industry
representatives who said it was much more stringent than earlier
versions.
The new draft goes “above and beyond” what had been agreed upon
in previous workshops, said Thera Buttaro of Bodega Bay
& Beyond vacation rentals.
Russian River and Heladsburg area rental property owners and
managers agreed.
“It was changed a lot from what was a workable plan.” said
Guerneville Realtor Herman Hernandez.
“We thought we had a pretty good compromise,” said Healdsburg
resident Marc Matson, of Healdsburg Vacation Homes. “All of a
sudden it changed.”
Limits on how many guests (two per bedroom) could stay in a
house served by a septic system were a concern to Monte Rio
vacation rental owners.
A requirement that pets could not be left unattended in vacation
homes was also among the concerns that persuaded planning
commissioners to send the ordinance back to the Permit and Resource
Management Department staff for rework.
A Sonoma County Board of Supervisors public hearing scheduled
for July 13 has been postponed. Instead the Planning Commission
will take another look at the ordinance on Aug. 5.
“They just need to kind of refine it,” said Hernandez.
In Healdsburg vacation rentals in certain agriculturally-zoned
areas would not be allowed under the proposed ordinance because
those uses are not consistent with the Sonoma County General Plan,
said county planner Jane Riley in a staff report to the commission
last week.
That prompted those vacation rental owners to seek legal help.
Tina Wallis, a land use attorney with the Clement, Fitzpatrick
& Kenworthy firm in Santa Rosa said she represents clients who
own wine country vacation rentals on land zoned LIA (land intensive
agriculture) where some existing vacation rentals may not be
allowed.
In those cases, “There’s a potential takings issue,” Wallis told
the commission.
Many vacation home rental advocates cited the potential economic
impact if the new ordinance puts people out of the vacation rental
business which now generates more than $2 million in annual county
transient occupancy tax (TOT) revenues, about 25 percent of the
total county TOT, which is a 9 percent tax added to the nightly
rate guests pay at hotels, inns and vacation rental houses.
Vacation home rentals generate more than $20 million in annual
revenue in Sonoma County, and vacation home renters spend an
estimated $60 million annually on food, drink and shopping, said
Ken Fischang, chief of the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau.
County Supervisors began looking at the burgeoning vacation home
rental industry more than a year ago owing to increasing complaints
about noise, traffic, parking, parties and other compatibility
issues when houses in residential neighborhoods become commercial
vacation rentals.
Most of the vacation homes are in the 5th Supervisorial District
but the majority of complaints have come from the Sonoma Valley
where wine country mansions have become venues for large outdoor
gatherings.
Most of the serious complaints — less than two dozen — have been
generated by large houses where wedding parties, reunions and
corporate retreats take place, said Sonoma County planner
Riley.
Under the new policy all vacation homeowners will be expected to
get an over-the-counter zoning permit that spells out standards
such as how many people are allowed to stay in a vacation house,
limits on the number of guests, parking requirements and noise
limits such as quiet hours from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. and a requirement
that the vacation home rental industry set up a complaint system
with someone on call to respond
Most vacation rentals are managed by professional property
management services whose rental agreements typically include
provisions against large parties or events, said Riley.
But there are also a large number of vacation rentals by owners
that are advertised on websites but do not pay transient occupancy
tax, according to county officials.
The Sonoma County Lodging Association and county staff estimated
there are approximately 200 county vacation rental properties that
do not pay TOT, according to a report last year.
Property owners and managers who do pay the tax say the by-owner
rentals that don t pay the TOT have an unfair business advantage
that the new ordinance needs to address.
Last week’s continuation means Sonoma County probably won’t see
a vacation rental ordinance in place for this summer season.