Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approves 45-working day ban on new vacation rentals while weighing extra polices

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has approved a 45-day ban on new vacation rentals in quite a few areas of the county whilst it weighs more laws for brief-expression rental homes.

In a public meeting late Tuesday, the board unanimously agreed to put an fast pause on issuing new holiday vacation rental permits in most parts outside of nearby town boundaries.

Officers say the moratorium is necessary to stop a operate on permits ahead of the proposed getaway rental polices, which are intended to reduce residents’ fears more than sounds, public security and housing availability. The new policies could include restricting the variety of rentals authorized in specific neighborhoods and prohibiting new rentals in others.

The board is set to vote on these updates to its present-day holiday vacation rental ordinance in August.

Due to the fact asserting a March 17 public listening to on the proposed limitations, county officials stated they’ve now gained around 100 holiday vacation rental permit apps. The county typically receives all over 10 apps a thirty day period.

To protect against an “over-concentration” of rentals in some neighborhoods right before the new regulations could acquire impact, officials will stop processing purposes that ended up obtained following March 17 for permits in unincorporated elements of county districts 1, 4 and 5. That consists of west county, north county and Sonoma Valley, where by trip rentals are most well-known.

For districts 2 and 3, allow programs acquired right after Tuesday will also be set on hold.

The paused programs will be processed as soon as the moratorium expires.

The board could make your mind up to increase the moratorium, set to conclusion in late June, to previous at least until eventually a vote on the proposed laws on Aug. 2.

The momentary ban, which is now in result, does not utilize to locations along the coastline that are controlled by the California Coastal Commission. The coastline would also be exempt from any permanent county caps on new rentals.

All through Tuesday’s assembly Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, who represents west county, acknowledged that family vacation rentals are a important portion of the tourism industry in her district but stated more limits are desired to address residents’ issues.

“We (have to) come across some way of definitely balancing financial vitality, of which tourism specially in west county is definitely vital, with high quality of life and preservation of our household neighborhoods,” Hopkins reported.

The new policies would only apply to unincorporated components of the county. They would cap small-time period rentals to 5% of single-household houses in some communities in which there are concerns about protecting out there housing inventory and preserving “neighborhood character.” Other communities could see long-lasting prohibitions on new rental permits.

In addition, the board is thinking about a program to license holiday vacation rentals to make it a lot easier to implement quick-term rental laws. The county would also launch a 24/7 hotline to answer to issues.

In accordance to a new financial study commissioned by the county, there ended up an believed 2,459 neighborhood limited-time period rentals in 2021, creating up 2% of the roughly 138,945 solitary-relatives households in the county. About 1,485 of the rentals had been in unincorporated locations.

You can access Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.v[email protected] or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian