Sonoma revisits vacation rental rules

It was financial need that compelled Jeanne Allen to list her home three years ago on a vacation rental site and open her doors to strangers. She and her husband, Chip, were looking for supplemental income to cover the mortgage on their Sonoma home, built to meet her accessibility needs. Airbnb provided that opportunity.

“We had bills and we had a big mortgage,” said Allen, who uses a scooter due to multiple sclerosis. “We had a spare bedroom and it was just sitting there.”

“It saved our bacon,” she said.

But the city clamped down on Allen and others with unauthorized vacation rentals more than a year ago, ordering them to halt operations and pay lodging taxes. Allen, who paid ?$4,000 in back taxes, said she had no idea at the time that the city didn’t allow short-term rentals.

The rules might change as Sonoma wrestles with the issue, following Petaluma, which is working on regulating short-term vacation rentals.

Today, the Sonoma City Council will discuss whether to ease restrictions and allow residents such as the Allens to rent out a room in their home for a limited number of days a month. Property owners would be required to obtain a license, remain on-site and rent no more than twice a month, up to four days each time, according to staff recommendations.

Last fall, Mayor David Cook voiced support for exploring the idea, saying short-term rentals could help some residents, particularly those who have lost spouses, keep their homes in a city that’s wrestling with a lack of affordable housing.

“This is a way of broadening it out to make living in Sonoma more affordable for seniors and other people,” Cook said.

“We’re trying to make it easier for our residents to stay in the city they love.”

Residents also have raised concerns that short-term rentals would spoil their quiet neighborhoods, bringing in more traffic and noise. They also argued it would take away from the city’s rental housing stock.

“Our community doesn’t do a good job providing affordable rental housing,” said Bill Willers, chair of Sonoma’s Planning Commission, which voted 4-2 against recommending short-term rentals.

Willers said the city shouldn’t make it an “economic incentive” for homeowners to rent their spare bedrooms to tourists rather than offering it as a long-term rental to a local resident.

But long-term rentals might not work for everyone, Allen said.

“I do like running around in my bathrobe. Having a roommate ?365 days a year is a whole different thing than having someone come stay with you on the weekend,” said Allen, who was outed to the city as an Airbnb host when a neighbor complained about the noise after she rented out her entire house.

“I don’t think it’s disruptive to the neighborhoods when you’re renting ?a spare room,” she said. “In retrospect, I do believe it’s disruptive when ?you rent out an entire house.”

Sonoma resident Mari Edlin said she previously stayed in vacation homes while visiting Europe. Using sites like Airbnb can be helpful in finding affordable lodging in the heart of a city. However, she said there should be a limit on the number of days residents can rent out their homes.

“It would be awkward if I saw strangers coming in and out of my neighborhood on a regular basis,” said Edlin, who rented out her home to tourists on one occasion for a week while she was away on vacation.

“It might be fine to do it once or twice a year,” she said.

Sonoma first tightened its regulations in 1999, restricting rentals in residential neighborhoods after concerns over an increase in vacation rentals in the area.

In 2009, Sonoma tightened the rules further. To operate as a vacation rental, homes had to be eligible or listed on the California Register of Historic Places. It also needed to prove the revenue would go toward restoring or rehabilitating the historic property.

It set the bar high and made it difficult, if not ?impossible, for residents to operate a vacation rental.

Currently, 68 homes are authorized to operate as vacation rentals in Sonoma, City Manager Carol Giovanatto said. However, only one of them was approved after 2009.

Despite tighter regulations, residents continued to complain about neighbors renting out their homes to tourists.

Council members decided to crack down further on unauthorized vacation rentals in 2013 when it hired the Fresno-based MuniServices consulting firm to track them down on sites such as Airbnb and VRBO.

The firm discovered ?46 properties were not registered with the city ?and owed more than $40,000 in taxes. Homeowners were asked to halt operations and pay the taxes.

This past summer, Sonoma agreed to extend its contract with MuniServices, which is expected to come back to the council later this month with updated figures.

“It’s not just in Sonoma,” Giovanatto said about unauthorized vacation rentals. “It’s everywhere.”

Like hotels and bed and breakfast inns, authorized vacation rentals must have a business license and pay lodging taxes to the city. However, online vacation rental sites such as Airbnb allow some to go under the radar and avoid paying taxes.

“It’s not a level playing field,” she said, adding that the city is closely monitoring a bill Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, introduced last month that would require vacation rental companies to disclose rental location, number of overnight stays and booking revenue. That would give local governments the ability to enforce local regulations and collect taxes.

Allen said most residents don’t mind paying the lodging taxes but they need to know the rules.

“People weren’t paying taxes because there was no guidance around it,” she argued. “If we have a process, people then will follow (it).”

You can reach Eloísa ?Ruano González at ?521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez?@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @eloisanews.