At its Tuesday, Dec. 12, meeting, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved revisions to Ordinance 927.2, “Regulating Short Term Rentals” (STRs). It becomes effective Jan. 11.
Once effective, the current moratorium will be eliminated and replaced by caps, as described in the ordinance, pertaining to the Idyllwild and Wine Country communities.
An interim report on implementing these changes in the ordinance is expected in about six months, according to Felisa Cardona, public information officer, for the county’s Department of Transportation and Land Management Agency.
Planning staff has been working on this revision since last November when the one-year moratorium on issuing new STR certificates in the Idyllwild area (including Pine Cove) and the Wine Country was approved. The last revision to the STR ordinance was approved in October 2022.
During this period, numerous community meetings – on the Hill and in the Wine Country – have occurred about possible changes to the regulation of STRs. The local meetings included Planning Department staff as well as staff from Supervisor V. Manuel Perez’s office.
At last week’s supervisor’s meeting, only three people spoke to the board. David Hunt, former Idyllwild Water District (IWD) director, was the sole Hill person to take advantage of the final opportunity to speak out on the proposed changes. The board had no discussion and after Hunt finished, Perez moved to approve the ordinance and Chuck Washington, (3rd District) seconded the motion. The final vote was unanimous.
Hunt expressed concern about the effect of many STRs on the IWD sewage plant.
“I can’t comprehend why the board of supervisors refuses to place a 10% cap on STRs in Idyllwild,” he began. “We have the highest density in the county and the entire state …
“Most importantly is our sewer plant. It’s in its 60th year of a 30-year life span. It will fail with overload,” he warned. “Now the county is installing public restrooms hooked up to our overloaded system.”
He urged the board to approve a fixed 10% cap on STRs in Idyllwild. If the directors did not approve a lower cap, Hunt urged them to continue the moratorium in Idyllwild until a new sewer plant can be constructed.
The new ordinance sets the cap on STRs in Idyllwild at 14% of the 3,567 housing units, or 500 STRs, which is 26 more than currently approved certificates.
How these added STR permits may be awarded will depend upon how many current STR owners have been renting and paying a Transient Occupancy Tax, but did not have a valid permit.
According to Cardona, this will be the process, but there could be changes and public notices should be made.
“The county will open up a submittal window for the ‘Tier 1’ operators [those STR owners described above], starting Feb. 1, 2024 and we’ll accept application requests for 90 days. After the window is closed, staff will evaluate all requests and determine eligibility. We will then allow those who are eligible to obtain an STR certificate, or if the number of eligible requests is too high, we’ll conduct a lottery.”
Section 7(g)(2) of the new ordinance does permit family transfers of STR certificates in Idyllwild.
The Planning Department also intends to provide the board with a six-month report on the revised ordinance’s status and implementation, according to Cardona. This is expected in August.
