Sonoma County supervisors to consider temporary cap on vacation home rentals

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider temporarily capping the number of vacation rental homes allowed to operate in most unincorporated parts of the county.

The proposed emergency ordinance immediately would limit the number of vacation rentals at 1,904, the number of rental permits that had been issued as of June 23.

The measure, which needs the support of four of the five supervisors to pass, would be in place for 45 days, after which the board could extend the rental permit limit for up to 22 months and 15 days.

Supervisor Chairwoman Susan Gorin said the move is partly meant to help address increasing complaints from residents about large parties, in violation of public health orders during the coronavirus pandemic, at short-term rental properties.

The emergency ordinance would help county staff overwhelmed by the pandemic response have more time to come up with a permanent vacation rental policy.

The ordinance would not apply to vacation rental properties in the county’s coastal region, which extends the entirety of the Sonoma Coast. Single-room rentals in which a property owner remains in the residence, as well as bed and breakfasts, also would be exempt. In addition, rentals within city limits are not subject to the new rules.

The move would serve to stabilize the county’s vacation rental stock, while the board considers a “more thoughtful nuanced policy” to curb the effect of rentals on the local housing market and neighborhoods, county Supervisor Lynda Hopkins said.

While tourism is essential to her west county district, Hopkins said homeowners and outside investors are increasingly converting affordable single-family residences to luxury short-term rentals.

According to county staff, there has been a 45% increase in vacation rentals in Sonoma County since the 2017 North Bay wildfires.

“How many vacation rentals does it take until a neighborhood fundamental stops being a neighborhood and becomes a commercial development?” Hopkins said.

Under the proposed ordinance, no additional vacation rental permits would be approved until the total falls below the cap. Existing permits already expire when a property changes hands, so any new permits would be distributed in the order that applications are received.

In effect, the board already has placed a cap on the number of vacation rentals. Supervisors on June 23 directed the County Administrator's Office to freeze issuing new rental permits as part of a series of emergency actions to stabilize housing during the pandemic.

The reason for the ongoing moratorium was to prevent would-be vacation rental operators from avoiding any new rules the county may adopt, Hopkins said.

“You could potentially create a gold rush of people trying to get in before the regulation takes effect,” she said.

Liza Graves, an owner of Sonoma-based vacation rental company Beautiful Places, questioned why it’s necessary to add new regulations at a time when many rental operators are recovering financially from the previous monthslong virus-related shutdown of vacation rental properties.

Most vacation homes wouldn’t be considered in an affordable price range, Graves said, and she doesn’t think vacation home buyers are taking mid- or low-income homes off the market for sale.

“We just don’t see the evidence that we have an emergency related to vacation rentals,” Graves said.

Gorin, whose district includes popular Sonoma Valley Wine Country destinations, has in the past pushed for existing restrictions on vacation rentals to address affordable housing shortages and preserve local neighborhoods.

Lindsay Darrimon, sales director for Napa and Sonoma counties at TurnKey Vacation Rentals, said in addition to hurting the local tourism economy, a vacation rental cap could hamper Sonoma County’s effort to ensure affordable housing by eliminating the opportunity for occupancy taxes on new rentals. A portion of those taxes go to area housing and homelessness services.

To limit that tax revenue stream for the county during a pandemic ”seems shortsighted,” Darrimon said.

On Tuesday, supervisors could choose to extend the vacation rental cap higher than the 1,904 previously approved permits to include outstanding rental applications that were submitted after the permit freeze went into effect June 23.

As of Aug. 13, there were 25 such applications. If the board chooses to add those outstanding applicants to the cap, county staff estimates the final number of vacation rentals could be as high as 1,950.

You can reach Staff Writer Ethan Varian at ethan.varian@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5412. On Twitter @ethanvarian