Does the increasingly popular practice of renting property in residential areas to short-term vacationers add unwanted noise and trash, reduce parking and create havoc in otherwise placid neighborhoods? Or does it inject excitement and new perspectives, exposing neighborhoods to far-flung voyagers and cultures, benefiting businesses with more customers and providing a badly needed second income to property owners? Regardless of where you stand, the effort to regulate the practice is about to kick into high gear. A draft ordinance that seeks to both define the enterprise and rein in its perceived abuses has had its first hearing by the San Diego Planning Commission. On Dec. 3, the city Planning Commission directed city staff to return to them Jan. 28 with an entirely new set of proposed regulations for Short Term Vacation Rentals.
The Ocean Beach Planning Board, which recently sent a letter to District 2 San Diego City Councilmember Lorie Zapf calling for strict limits on the practice, also discussed the issue at its monthly meeting on Dec. 2.
In recent years, online rental services such as Airbnb or VRBO have allowed property owners to rent out their homes and condos to short-term occupants. Predictably, the practice has become especially popular in neighborhoods adjacent to the coast, such as Ocean Beach.
Zapf, who has overseen development of the ordinance in her role as chair of the City Council’s Smart Growth and Land Use Committee, favors imposing a minimum stay of 21 days for whole-home rentals in single-family zones. Her office has stressed, however, the ordinance is still considered a work in progress.
Instead of a duration limit, the board has called for placing a 3 percent limit on the number of all city residential units – both in single- and multi-family zones – that could be allowed for use as vacation rentals.
“It’s time for Ocean Beach to take a stance,” said board chairman John Ambert before the board voted unanimously to approve the letter at its November meeting.
If the ordinance only applies to single-family zones, most of Ocean Beach – where multifamily zones dominate – would go unregulated, Ambert said.
Not addressing multifamily zones is “particularly troubling, given the number of renters we have in Ocean Beach,” Ambert said. “The more short-term vacation rentals, the less opportunity for long-term renters. It will exacerbate the affordability of housing.”
Without saturation limits, it could become too easy for property owners to turn homes into short-term rentals – displacing families, driving up rents and property values, encouraging real estate speculation and degrading community character, board members said.
Some even wondered out loud if the practice may have fueled the need to terminate two teachers at Ocean Beach Elementary School, where enrollment is down more than 15 percent since last year.
“What we’re worried about is losing our neighborhoods,” vice chairman Blake Herrschaft said.
As for “homesharing,” the practice of renting a room to a vacationer while the owner lives on premises, both Zapf and the board agree the practice should be permitted to continue with minor restrictions. The draft ordinance calls for a limit of two boarders per home at any given time and for the homeowner to provide one parking spot for boarders.
In addition to the 3 percent saturation limit – which was inspired by a law recently approved in Austin, Texas – the letter also calls for an annual licensing fee, with the proceeds earmarked for code enforcement resources.