Lake Elsinore's Supervisor Opposes Regulating Local Short-Term Rentals

By PAUL J. YOUNG, City News Service:

The Board of Supervisors this week tentatively approved an ordinance regulating short-term rental properties in unincorporated communities to contain nuisance activity and generate revenue.

However, the measure is expected to undergo revisions before another public hearing next month, based on opposition testimony.

The board’s 4-1 vote on Tuesday, with Supervisor Kevin Jeffries dissenting, came after a nearly hourlong discussion of a proposed regulatory framework that approximates what cities such as Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage have implemented.

“Short-term rentals are happening everywhere,” said Supervisor John Benoit, who brought the proposal forward with Supervisor Chuck Washington. “It’s all right until you have a troublesome renter. Then you have people on the street late at night, loud noises and trash.”

Under the proposed measure, rental home owners in unincorporated communities would be required to obtain permits on an annual basis, at the inaugural rate of $250, after which it would drop to $100, according to Benoit.

The ordinance stipulates that properties would need to be listed with the county, and an independent agency retained by the county would be responsible for sending inspectors to handle complaints about the properties.

Short-term rentals, defined as units where individuals are paying for overnight stays that last 30 days or less, would be subject to “quiet time” enforcement, with no noise between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.; would be limited to a maximum overnight occupancy of 16 persons and 32 “guests” in daylight hours; and would have rubbish located in discrete areas and no parking other than at the property, according to the proposal.

Rental property owners would additionally be subject to a 10 percent transient occupancy tax.

Benoit said he and his staff had uncovered multiple instances in which investors had purchased homes for the rental income, advertising lodgings as being in Indian Wells, Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, when in fact the homes were in unregulated locations like Bermuda Dunes.

According to the ads, homes can run anywhere from $70 to $3,000 a night to rent, depending on the size and character of the accommodations.

“There are quite a few vacation rentals in my district,” Washington said. “The primary goal here is to have a quieter community and a better quality of life in unincorporated areas. I don’t want to support additional government regulation where it’s not needed.”

Cynthia Wellington of Wildomar told the board that the proposed ordinance threatened her and other landlords’ livelihoods, mainly due to the occupancy limitations. Wellington said the measure failed to consider multi- acre lots that don’t sit directly adjacent to other homes.

Former county Department of Human Resources Director Ron Komers, who retired in 2010, and his wife took issue with the proposal on the same grounds, declaring that it could be a deal-killer in continuing to lease out their La Cresta property, which sits on a five-acre space across the road from their primary residence.

“There should be different zoning for different areas,” Komers told the board. “It doesn’t make sense to apply an urban standard to rural locations. There are 20-acre estates in La Cresta.

“We believe occupancy limits should resemble what’s in place in San Bernardino County,” he said. “We have rental property to survive. We rent our home for $1,000 a night. That’s with a $5,000-a-month mortgage. We can’t continue doing that with the 16-person limit under this ordinance.”

San Bernardino County’s rental property ordinance allows one person per every 100-square-feet of space in a home.

Jeffries likened his colleagues’ proposal to “using a sledgehammer to swat a fly,” arguing that a few bad experiences with rental properties had been overblown to justify more regulation.

“The ‘tourism zone’ approach they have in San Bernardino is better,” the supervisor said. “I can see legal challenges to these standards.”

Jeffries added that he couldn’t understand why the measure had come just two months after the board approved an ordinance regulating so-called “party homes,” establishing a process whereby sheriff’s officials and code enforcement officers can more swiftly deal with nuisance properties, mainly rentals, where disruptive activities impacting neighborhoods are occurring.

“We haven’t even allowed time for that ordinance to play out,” he said.

Benoit replied that “significant situations in the Coachella Valley” made it imperative to move ahead with putting regulations in place. However, he and Washington vowed to rewrite various provisions to reflect the needs expressed by opponents.

“We want to make sure people can rent their homes productively,” Benoit said.

The board will likely take up the matter again at its Dec. 8 meeting.

(IMAGE via Shutterstock)