County takes on vacation rentals – concerns over noise, intrusion

Draft rules for rural areas expected in July
Tourism is a big business in Sonoma County, and it is increasingly finding its way into local neighborhoods, due to the popularity of vacation rentals – private residences leased for short periods of time.
But these alternative lodgings have elicited a negative reaction from local neighborhoods, who say they have problems with noise and traffic caused by their temporary neighbors. With community input, the county is working toward updating its vacation rental ordinance to mitigate these problems.
Sonoma County’s Planning Commission held a widely attended workshop on May 18 in Santa Rosa, which attracted residents from Geyserville to Monte Rio. At the event, the public learned about potential policy changes and shared their own experience with vacation rentals – both positive and negative.
According to Jane Riley, a county planner who spoke at the workshop, vacation rentals have a long history in Sonoma County, especially along the coast and the Russian River. But the new sharing economy, along with the proliferation of websites such as Airbnb, has led to an increase of vacation rentals in traditional neighborhoods.
Currently, there are 822 permitted vacation rentals in Sonoma County outside of the coastal zone, Riley said. The fourth district (northern Sonoma County) is home to about 18 percent of these rentals.
Through community outreach, Riley said the county was able to compile a list of top concerns from vacation rental neighbors, which include: trespassing, safety and security, water use, building concentration, the commercialization of neighborhoods, violation of homeowner associations covenants and unresponsive property managers.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Riley said. “We need to maintain the character of our residential neighborhoods. We need to maintain our housing stock. We need to balance economic interests with neighborhood concerns and we need to allow flexibility for visitors’ uses and for property owners.”
Potential policy options to address these issues were wide-ranging – from capping the total number of vacation rental permits allowed in a given zone, to requiring a two-year renewal of permits or reducing the number of guests allowed.
During the meeting, the majority of speakers called for better regulation of vacation rentals in light of negative impacts on their communities, such as a Monte Rio resident named Dennis Brown, who described vacation rentals as a divisive and straining issue in his neighborhood.
Gregor Nelson, a Healdsburg resident with vacation rentals on either side of his home, brought forward another concern related to the properties – fire safety. “An afternoon barbecue is one thing, but this rental has a fire pit far from their home, but very close to our home,” he said. “In summer and fall, when the surrounding forest is tinder dry, there are raging fires in this pit, far out of proportion of any warming needs.”
But one Windsor resident and Airbnb host, Barbara Cogbill, spoke out in favor of small-scale vacation rentals that have a marginal impact on neighbors, such as the one she operates. “This past week I polled my five closest neighbors, and none of them were even aware of the Airbnb connection,” she said.
For Fourth District Supervisor James Gore, improving enforcement is a key component of the vacation rental issue. “If somebody’s a bad actor, there should be a process in place that’s very transparent and responsive to deal with people who are not responsibly managing their properties,” he said.
While Gore said he doesn’t have the perfect answer to these issues, “I want to get a lot of direction from the community about what’s the right way to go about it, and allow the community to dictate what the community is going to look like,” he said.
The county is continuing to solicit input about updating its vacation rental ordinance at www.sonoma-county.org/prmd/docs/vacrent. Policy recommendations, according to Riley, will be formed for the county planning commission near the end of July, and a commission hearing for the matter has been scheduled for Aug. 13.