Supervisors expected to approve Ordinance 927.1 July 26

On Tuesday, July 26, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors will consider a new ordinance for regulating short-term rentals (STR) in the county’s unincorporated areas. Draft Ordinance 927.1 (unless amended) will replace the current Ordinance 927, “Regulating Short Term Rentals,” adopted in January 2016.

This draft ordinance is very similar to the draft presented to the Planning Commission on May 18. But it has grown to 21 pages of text compared to five pages for the current Ordinance 927. Download the PDF at https://idyllwildtowncrier.com/dl/927.1.pdf .

Many Hill residents have followed the process for revising Ordinance 927. Whether opposed to STRs or, possibly, an owner of one, most feel the version presented to the board has improved in the past year. Some would still prefer further modifications and others feel it has gone far enough, if not too far.

But when asked what one critical change he would like to see, Joel Feingold, Idyllwild resident, who has been deeply and intimately involved in the revision process, opined, “The one critical thing that I would ask the county supervisors to do to the latest draft presented to them by the planning board, who went through a tedious process over the last few years, is nothing, approve it as it now stands.”

STR caps or limits

Nevertheless, one issue many residents consider to be of prime importance, will not be resolved at this board meeting. Setting a cap or limit on the number of STRs in a certain area is deferred. The Planning Department staff made this recommendation to the commission, which agreed when it approved the revised draft for the board’s decision.

The planning staff felt there were too many issues affecting an adequate definition and implementation of a cap. Consequently, Planning Director John Hildebrand recommended more time to review and analyze this issue and promised workshops to further discuss the subject in detail.

Among the issues affecting caps that staff believes need further study and discussion are which areas of the county should have limits and how to draw a boundary for that area; what are the criteria for a limit, such as population, dwelling units or percentages and what is the data source; and how to manage the STR certificate process when an application falls within a designated area.

A cap or limit is necessary on the Hill, in the opinion of Woody Henderson, Pine Cove resident. He notes, “Idyllwild has about half of all STRs in unincorporated Riverside County. We have double the percentage of STRs to residents of surrounding communities. And that number continues to grow. In a town that had fire evacuation traffic issues before the STR influx, a 10 percent cap on STRs is completely reasonable.”

Idyllwild resident Peter Szabadi is frustrated that the two years it took to develop a revision for the ordinance was not sufficient time to study and resolve the “cap” issue. More forcefully, he averred, “The surrounding communities have no problem making reasonable controls for the number of STRs to protect their constituents. They have found reasonable ways to set limits on the number of STRs.”

Changes or additions to 927

The new draft does incorporate two changes the commission recommended. The more substantive change addresses the issue of a “hosted stay.” During the Planning Commission’s final review, there was significant discussion about hosted versus unhosted facilities and whether unrelated multiple groups could be booked concurrently.

A ”hosted” stay or site referred to an STR where either the owner or responsible operator were on-site overnight along with guests. The draft ordinance now defines hosted stay as “A Short Term Rental which is occupied by the Owner for the duration of the rental to a Responsible Guest(s).”

Later, when the ordinance limits the STR to one “Responsible Guest,” an exception is provided “for a Hosted Stay.” And the number of rooms is limited to five.

The initial reason for limiting bookings to single parties or groups was STRs are in residentially built structures. The building standards for residential facilities are less rigorous than the commercial, and stricter, codes for hotels and motels. Booking unrelated parties or groups seemed to be for facilities such as motels.

However, county counsel shared that the state code defines hotels and motels as offering more than six rooms for rent and occupancy. That was sufficient to convince the commission to allow facilities with an on-site host and five rooms or fewer to offer their occupancy to multiple groups concurrently.

STRs are defined as lodging or sleeping for less than 30 days, but at least two consecutive days and one night.

Section 5 lists the facilities that do not qualify as a potential STR, such as dormitory, bed-and-breakfast inn, hospital and rest home.

All property owners who wish to offer their homes or other facilities as an STR must obtain an STR certificate from the county. There will be an application fee (set in Ordinance 671) and an inspection of the site.

Off-street parking and noise monitors are required. One on-site parking space is required for every four occupants. On-site parking sites must be within an approved driveway, garage or carport area. “Off-site parking is not permitted for Short Term Rentals,” pursuant to section 8(h).

Noise monitors will be installed both inside and outside of the facility. They must be capable of collecting and providing data to ensure compliance with county Ordinance 847, “Regulating Noise in Riverside County.”

And the county will determine the maximum number of permitted occupants. The principal guideline will be the California Building Standards Code. For most STRs, the criterion will be “the lesser of: two (2) persons per Bedroom plus an additional one (1) person in the Short Term Rental or ten (10) persons total,” according to Section 8(g)(1).

However, an exception to set the maximum number of renters to 16 can be obtained in two ways. One is to submit an application to the county Building and Safety Department demonstrating compliance with the state’s Building Standards Code.

The second means to obtain an occupancy limit of 16 is if the structure is located on a parcel of at least five acres and has at least five bedrooms as well as complying with county and state building codes.

Owners or their designated responsible operators must respond to complaints within 60 minutes and report to the county Planning Department within two days. Failure to meet these deadlines could result in a code violation

If the complaint involves “health and safety concerns, such as blocked streets, or excessive noise during quiet hours,” it may be made to the county’s 24-hour Code Enforcement phone number.

The outside signage, which must be visible from the street, has to have the following information: the STR certificate number, the name and phone number of the responsible operator, the maximum number of occupants, and Code Enforcement’s call center phone number.

The written notification for obtaining an STR certificate is required to be given to the greater of all property owners within 300 feet of the STR property line or, at least, 20 surrounding properties.

While not totally satisfied with the draft ordinance, Henderson, shared this thought with the Town Crier. “July 26 will be a special day for Idyllwild communities. At the Riverside County Supervisor Board meeting, we expect the most recent version of 927.1 to be passed. A new version of 927 was proposed to solve some of the outsized issues created by the original ordinance and bring back some quality of life for residents that are most affected. We are expecting the final version of 927.1 to have some improvements to that end.”

Most of these proposed changes do limit and restrict some STR behavior to protect the ambiance of the neighborhood. But some people remain skeptical and believe that these changes are directed at the wrong target.

In the opinion of another Idyllwild resident, Jon Brown, “My biggest overall concern remains that the proposed revisions make part-time and owner-operated STRs in Idyllwild nearly impossible. This seems to be predicated on the presumption that professional management companies are better at neighbor relations than owner operators. Personally, I remain skeptical that that is true.”

Enforcement of ordinance

Enforcement is another issue that will not be settled at this supervisor’s meeting. Regardless of the ordinance’s language, enforcement requires county staff — Code Enforcement or sheriff’s deputies. Ultimately, that requires funding to hire the adequate number of staff. In November, the board did provide another $770,00 for 10 more enforcement officers to work weekends and evenings. This also was included in the fiscal year 2022-2023 budget.

Yet, stricter enforcement is favored by many on both sides of the issue. Brown, an STR owner, wrote in an email to the Town Crier, “What all sides in Idyllwild agreed [what] we wanted was more enforcement and revoking permits from any habitual offenders.

“However, at the previous planning commission hearing they clearly admitted (paraphrasing from memory) ‘planning doesn’t have the power to do anything about enforcement, as that’s a budget issue for the BOS.’” Brown continued.

He concluded, “So, I’d like to see the county pause the regulation, see what comes of the new Deckard management contract, and additional code enforcement officer hours promised on nights and weekend. Wait and see if the county [is] now capable of effective enforcement without additional regulations unrelated to enforcement.”