Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez held a public meeting at Town Hall Monday night, March 13. U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz had planned to attend but was unable. Perez and his staff were joined by a handful of uniformed sheriff’s officers, including a resident officer, and an equal number sporting Emergency Management Department colors. Other agencies with representatives present included California Highway Patrol (CHP), Economic Development Department, Small Business Development, County Service Area 36, Transportation, Land Management and Public Health. Riverside County Auditor Ben Benoit also was there.

On the local side, Idyllwild Fire Chief Mark LaMont, and Idyllwild Community Center (ICC) President Stephanie Yost were present. The following group leaders were present as members of the Short-term Rental Working Group (STRWG): Woody Henderson of Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council (MCFSC); Joel Feingold of Mountain Community Patrol (MCP); Mark Dean of Pine Cove Property Owners Association (PCPOA); and Jon Brown of Idyllwild Vacation Rental Owners’ Group (VRO). At least 36 members of the public attended, with more than 20 signing up to speak.

Although a special meeting was scheduled with the supervisor and the local STRWG in “about two weeks,” most of the public comments included this issue. Henderson clarified that under Supervisor Chuck Washington, separate working groups were created for Idyllwild and the Temecula Wine Country. Perez defined the meeting as a “listening session,” in that after the introductions he would mostly be listening to residents’ comments. Often questions were referred to responsible agencies, whose representatives were able to exchange contact information with citizens.

This was Perez’s first meeting with community members following redistricting that moved the Idyllwild area out of the 3rd District and into the 4th District of the county.

Perez described the results of redistricting: Washington’s district now ends around Anza, and Perez’ district has grown: “Not only do I handle the Coachella Valley, but I go all the way down to Blythe, and all the way … to the Imperial County border, so I have the Salton Sea area, the northern part at least. I also have Idyllwild, Pine Cove, Pinyon [Pines], Mountain Center …” He went on to explain that growing up in the Coachella Valley his family had often come to Idyllwild to cool off. He expressed the intention to have some kind of small office on the Hill, with someone from the area to be his eyes and ears.

STRs

Public comment began with Michelle Nielsen, an STR owner who is “up here at least once a month.” She underlined her commitment to a “partnership with the community,” being a “good neighbor and following best practices guidelines” for STRs. Specifically, she said she “would love to see STR TOT [transient occupancy] taxes go back into the community,” paying for improved roads, sidewalks, signage and snow-play areas, “a true partnership between STR owners and the community.”

Jerry Buchanan brought up issues with STRs: Some are not following the regulations, they don’t have the required posters with contact info, or “you call and there’s nobody you can reach.” Those owners that “have chosen to be unregulated … are the ones that need to be taken care of.”

He also asked about street repair, specifically North and South Circle drives and cars blocking roads during snow plowing, reducing the width of the road until the piled up snow melts. He’d like to see the sheriff tag and tow. Occupants of STRs don’t know about this; informing them is the responsibility of management. A last item was a shoutout to the local fire departments as a resource for first aid and screening; they can recommend that a patient go to an emergency room and offer emergency transport.

Don Roy is an STR owner who lives on the property. He registered his rental with the county but never received anything from the county on regulations or rule changes. The county has his address phone and email, yet he is not notified of changes. The county notifies him every quarter when his TOTs are due. “We need information if you want us to be compliant.” Another member of the public added that after printing up signs with contact numbers, the county number changed, necessitating new signs.

Ted Johnson has an STR in Mountain Center, and recently got a letter from the county saying that Idyllwild is under a moratorium for new STRs, and that for more information, visit a website and sign up, but the website was not configured to allow sign-ups. He copied the page and sent it in to Code Enforcement, got no reply, called, was given an email, got a response saying his STR was within the moratorium. He called the moratorium roll-out “terrible.” He now has to take down his website, losing the positive reviews. He’d like to be compliant but still is not sure if Mountain Center is really part of the Idyllwild/Temecula moratorium. Having no neighbors and living on the property, he feels his situation is different from that of Idyllwild.

Alex De Cordoba is a newer owner of a second home on the Hill. Part of the decision to buy was based on the opportunity to supplement the mortgage with STR income. He was lucky enough to get in before the moratorium, while others who have lived here longer were not so lucky. He notes the many kinds of residents, new as well as old. He came to the meeting to find out how the interests of these different groups are balanced.

“When you own your own property and you have legal rights to that property, the moratorium kind of pushes up against that … With an ordinance that is county-wide it is a question of one size fits all … is there a way to fine tune the ordinance …?” He brought up the question of 24/7 60-minute response time and the burden that places on off-the-Hill owners. This seemed to touch a nerve within the assembled public; one woman could be heard replying, “It’s a hotel!”

Robbin Lockie also came to talk about STRs. As assistant treasurer in San Diego she “wrote the ordinance” for STRs and was also the TOT administrator. “One of the most important bits of the management process is to make sure that you make information available for the population … and this was not done. I think this is why people are upset; you are taking their property rights away from them when they weren’t notified. The way people were notified was with a nasty letter.”

She would “love to offer” her services and experience to the working group. She is a 40-year Pine Cove homeowner, and six months ago decided to rent out the house. She did her due diligence, applied for and got the TOT certificate and sent in for the permit, but never got it back. Calls to the county went unanswered. She also pointed out an essential part of the local problem: the STRs are concentrated here, but compliance and administration are located far away. Lockie also asked “why your tax certificate and your permit can’t be the same vehicle?”

Feingold described MDP’s mission — “eyes and ears of the sheriff’s department, not allowed to engage …” — and need for volunteers. He went on to talk about STRs, saying that, “We are a vacation destination for sure, but many of us don’t see us as a vacation town entirely … Lots of people … lived here for decades that have nothing to do with downtown businesses nor the short-term rentals. There is that split there. I’m going to do my very best to play nice and find that happy medium in the group.” He shared the 24/7 Code Enforcement number (951) 955-2004. Neighbors should first call the number on the sign outside an STR to talk to the responsible party, but if unable to reach anyone or there’s no sign, they may call Code Enforcement.

Access to urgent care

J. Brown spoke of having a medical emergency several years ago, putting off seeing a health care professional because of the long drive, hoping he would feel better, and finally, going into shock before going down to Eisenhower. “If I had access to a walk-in clinic … it would have changed everything.” He shared his research into companies like Borrego Health, which runs clinics in Anza and other small communities, and their recent bankruptcy and acquisition by DAP Health. His hope “was to get the supervisor’s office involved in trying to convince an entity like DAP Health or others to open a clinic” here. He called access to health care “the number one reason people leave” our community. Perez promised to bring this up among the supervisors.

Neviana Aristova also spoke for an urgent care facility on the Hill, saying that other towns in unincorporated areas of the county are within 3 miles of one.

Sheila Zacker, a local realtor also said she is “working with a doctor” who “wants to get a practice up here.” Perez asked her to call his office.

Public restrooms

Yost provided an update on the public restroom situation. “We are going to get a public restroom up here. It is going in at the end of Mile High Plaza. The board of supervisors has already approved funding … it’s supposed to be done by December-ish …” Until then there is a problem; the Fort will be renovating their restrooms, now the only ones available to the public, and when they reopen they will be for customers only. Until the restrooms are opened, visitors will only have the portable toilets at the ICC playground. She asked Perez for help getting and maintaining more portable units.

Electric car-charging station

Elizabeth Hinckley thanked Perez for coming up, and the sheriff for successfully managing the snow-play crowds during the recent storms. Her request was for a public electric car-charging station. There is one at an “RV area” [Thousand Trails] and private ones at lodging. “You lose almost half your charge coming up the mountain. There is nothing in Hemet, the closest is Cabazon …” Perez shared his own story of trying to get from Coachella to Riverside, watching his estimated charge falling from 99 miles to near 0 as he approached Banning. The station he found only allowed him to get 12 miles worth of power in an hour and a half. Finally, he went to Kohl’s and found a fast charger.Perez sits on the Air Quality Management District and California Air Resources boards, and said that he “can advocate to make sure you get that charger.” Yost added that ICC could offer a location, possibly at the playground or Town Hall.

Chain control confusion

Hinckley also brought up the confusion over chain control during storms. Facebook groups share information, but also confusion. The Caltrans site is often inaccurate. “We have signs up that say chains are needed and they are not. What is the go-to source for this info?” she asked. County representatives said this is Caltrans’ responsibility, but offered to open a channel of communication about improving this.

Road paving update

The representative of the Transportation Department said this summer North and South Circle drives, Fern Valley Road and Saunders Meadow Road will be paved. It is “about to advertise that project” providing community outreach. He added that the crew attempts to widen the paved surface where possible. He also offered to provide a list of upcoming scheduled road projects for the next three years to the supervisor’s office.

MCFSC home hardening, abatement and GSOB

Henderson explained briefly the mission of MCFSC: it finds grants from county state and federal sources, collects them and does the paperwork, setting it up to make it as easy as possible for everyone to get their plan of abatement. Idyllwild is a Tier 3 danger area, the highest rating in the state. It also deals with the Goldspotted oak borer (GSOB) having two grants to get rid of infected trees.

An informational event is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 25, at the MCFSC office, 25380 Franklin Dr. The phone number is (951) 659-6208. The group “just got a huge ($2 million) FEMA home hardening grant. It covers metal roofs, double pane windows, fire preventative siding, eaves work,” Henderson said. MCFSC acquires usually 70% funding and the homeowner pays the rest.

Idyllwild Arts and Apela Drive, other issues with private roads

Laura Sherman of the Idyllwild Arts Foundation (IAF) came to bring up bridge and road conditions approaching and within the Idyllwild Arts campus. IAF maintains and plows its own roads. When Tollgate Road enters the campus, it becomes Apela Drive and continues on to forest service land. The county owns and maintains Apela up to a point. It is the only “official” road” in and out of campus and the bridge it crosses on the way into the campus is “old and not wide enough.” She expressed “great concern” for the debris flow that “pummeled” the culverts under it after the 2019 flooding. She said the county has told IAF that it maintains Apela for 1 mile after the stop sign at Idyllmont, but members of the public often go about a mile further, using it to access “The Hub,” a location of interest to mountain bikers and others. This well-trafficked section of road is potholed and “treacherous,” and there is a new building there that Idyllwild Fire “can’t get their truck to.”

The Transportation Department representative confirmed this complicated relation; the road is public in that anyone can drive on it, but parts of it are outside the county’s jurisdiction. “We can’t officially use gas tax dollars or public funds on that roadway.” These kinds of situations arise county-wide, and the county would have to seek “other opportunities for funding.” County roads cost “about $1 million per mile.” Transportation will look into the condition of the bridge.

Brown said that on the Facebook group he runs the question comes up frequently about vehicles blocking private roads. How do you get it towed? People are told that the sheriff doesn’t do traffic enforcement, that is CHP’s job, but on a private road, owners need to call a tow truck and pay for it, and Idyllwild Garage won’t tow a vehicle off private property and impound it. There is no resolution. Sometimes abandoned vehicles block private roads for weeks. CHP Lt. Rusk invoked Vehicle Code 22651(d) that covers blocking driveways. Residents should call CHP, but it’s “always going to be a case-by-case” situation.

Lockie brought up the “private” status of Cedar Crest Road. “We would like to make our road a public road.” She asked about the process. Perez confirmed that his office has her contact info. The transportation representative added that there is a self-guided brochure on the website that explains that process.

Vacant lot abatement in Pine Cove

Zacker also spoke of the difference between Idyllwild Fire and Pine Cove Fire abatement. When she sells a property in Idyllwild, Idyllwild will inspect for abatement, but that is not available in Pine Cove.

Lockie also touched on this. Pine Cove homeowners are cited and do the required work, but adjacent vacant lots are not cited. A CalFire assistant fire chief looked at the lot and said that vacant lots “had not been looked at in like a hundred years,” she said. She called that “very scary.” Many unimproved lots exist in Pine Cove she added.

Local and county agency announcements

Perez invited county staff to comment on the issues brought up. A public information officer added that owners of electric vehicles need to keep vehicles charged and ready for evacuation, updating the old adage about keeping the gas tank “1/2 full” to include electric vehicles. Also, with snow it’s important to look out for the weight on roofs. Rain often adds to the weight instead of running off. We’ve been more fortunate than San Bernardino County, but “if you have structural damage you can go to our website, rivcoready.org/activeevents. There is a link on there that you can submit if you endure damages. It’s not a promise that we’re going to be able to do anything about those damages, but for us to qualify for state or federal disaster aid we have to know that there’s damages.” He reiterated the basic message for mountain residents: Be prepared to be home bound for seven to 10 days.

Rusk added that CHP has three resident post officers in the Idyllwild area. “Their goal is to make sure the roads are safe. We have a snow-play issue whenever we have a heavy storm. Unfortunately, there is not adequate parking. Our goal is to get people where they need to go to make the roads safe in case there’s an emergency.” This job is harder because visitors do not come equipped for mountain winter road conditions. When visitors get stuck in snow it takes officers away from traffic control. He would like to get a dedicated officer up here on those snowy weekends in case resident post officers have to attend to a crash or other emergency.

An EMD representative gave an update for the Mountain Top Siren Project. “We’ve procured most of the equipment; there’s 41 sites, we’re still waiting on a few pieces of equipment, then we’ll start working on the scheduling. As you can imagine, the environmental impact (report) took a while. We’re working on final funding to cover the installation.” Perez suggested there might be good news coming about that but would save the announcement for a later day.