Public not happy with STR ordinance enforcement
Riverside County Supervisors were a little disappointed with the results
presented in the six-month report on the implementation of revised
Ordinance 927.2, “Regulating Short-Term Rentals”.
“We got a six-month report on how the Ordinance is working, and it seems
at this point, it’s not! At least to the degree that when the Board
approved the Ordinance’s amendment and asked for the update, there was
an expectation of greater changes” said Board Chair Chuck Washington
(3^(rd) District).
“Had we known that we would be where we are now in implementation of the
ordinance, I don’t know whether it would have made sense to ask for a
six-month update,” he concluded.
At the Aug. 27 meeting of the Board of Supervisors, John Hildebrand,
Planning Director, presented the Department’s six-month report on how
the amended Ordinance 927.2 was working.
The entire meeting lasted more than six hours. The STR portion consumed
nearly an hour. However, Hildebrand’s actual presentation was barely 5
minutes. He was joined by interim director of Code Enforcement, Rania
Odenbaugh, who used about 5 minutes.
Before the formal presentation, the Board heard from nine members of the
public. The first speaker, Joel Feingold, of Idyllwild, was perhaps the
kindest of the public commenters.
“Things are certainly a little better up on the mountain, a little
quieter, and seemingly a little more compliant,” he began. Then he noted
that many STR owners continue to operate without regard to the
requirements of Ordinance 927.2.
“Tourism and commercialization of our town continues at its feverish
pace,” he ended. “I still think there is hope, but much lies in your
hand, do not lessen or remove the ordinance.”
Feingold was followed by eight other speakers, all of whom live in the
Wine Country. Paul Petrella, one of the Wine Country residents,
complimented Feingold when he began his comments.
“Joel Feingold stole of lot of my thunder. He said a lot of things
related to our area well as Idyllwild. I really appreciate what Joel
said,” Petrella said
The other speakers had many specific complaints about the Ordinance’s
enforcement and the capability of Code Enforcement to implement their
requirements.
They addressed issues such as Code’s response time to complaints such as
noise and music above the limits or rentals exceeding the certified
capacity.
Not at the Board meeting, but an active STR owner on the Hill, Jon Brown
said in an email to the Town Crier, that he and 15 other STR owners were
able to meet with Code Enforcement recently.
“The meeting was very informative, and they answered many of the
questions people had,” Brown wrote. “One of the questions that came up
was about [cease and desist] orders many had received. Apparently,
hundreds of owners received bogus C&Ds because the county mistakenly
sent them to STR’s with permits whose status was ‘pending inspection,’
as if they were in violation. Even though they’d been waiting for months
for county to show up and inspect.”
Brown did add, “One answer was particularly striking. When asked how
many calls they receive for Idyllwild, they said they get ‘about one
call per week.’”
When he made his presentation, Hildebrand reaffirmed that the Tier 1
application process was completed. This applied to STR owners who had
been paying the Transient Occupancy Tax between Sept. 13, 2021 and Sept.
13, 2022 but did not have a certificate. No lottery was necessary to
award any new certificates to these applicants.
The Tier 2 process for new STR owners will begin soon, he added.
The interactive map of STR certificates, with location, and the
certificate number, responsible operator’s contact information, and
occupancy limits should be available as September begins.
Washington was not alone in expressing surprise about the status of
enforcement efforts of Ordinance 927.2.
Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez (1^(st) District) asked questions about the
lack of timely responses to complaints. He also encouraged Code
Enforcement to give more attention of providing callers and residents an
update on resolution of the complaint.
Supervisor Kevin Jeffries (2^(nd) District), who acknowledged there are
few STRs in his District, expressed concern about the number and
frequency of unanswered calls to the hotline. He and his staff are aware
of this problem because the caller will then dial his office for help.
He also expressed concern that Code Enforcement was shifting field staff
into the office in order to answer calls. “We want a strong Code
Enforcement presence – day and night.”
He compared this to banker’s hours because the staff is not in the field
during the evenings and night. Then added that relying on the Sheriff’s
department to respond to noise complaints is inefficient because the
deputies usually have much higher priority calls to address.
Undersheriff Don Sharp did speak to the Board. He acknowledged these
problems as 927’s enforcement has begun. However, the Sheriff’s staff
and Code Enforcement are meeting and resolving many of these problems
now.
“We’re working the kinks out. It took a little time and I apologize,” he
told the Board. “The Sheriff is very committed to this.”
Washington concluded the discussion encouraging both Code Enforcement
and the Sheriff to issue more citations in order to get the attention of
STR owners and managers to comply with the Ordinance.
“Taxpayers shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden to have STR operators
behave in a neighborly way,” he said. “I feel confident that the Sheriff
and Code will work better to ensure owners or managers take
responsibility for their properties. Hold them accountable, write more
citations!”
He did recognize that Planning may need more discretion in the
certificate issuance process; therefore there may need to be future
amendments to the Ordinance “. . . to make the program work better.”
