By JP Crumrine
Riverside County’s Planning Department has scheduled a community meeting to discuss the proposed revisions to County Ordinance No. 927.3 (Short-Term Rentals Ordinance). The public meeting will be held in the Idyllwild Town Hall. at 6 p.m., on Monday, November 3.
“We want to hear from you,” is the topic. The Planning staff will review the new proposed revised draft (which is the third revision to the original Ordinance) and solicit comments.
No major changes are proposed to the current Ord. 927. The 500 STR certificates for the Idyllwild-Pine Cove area are not being changed.
The most significant change is the addition of a requirement for a short-term rental property to be rented at least four times in a year.
The proposed revision adds a new paragraph “c” to Section 10, which has specific requirements for the Idyllwild area. This will read, “To maintain a Short-Term Rental Certificate in Idyllwild, Responsible Operators must rent their Short Term Rental to Guests a minimum of four (4) times per year.”
When asked the reason for the new language, Felisa Cardona, the Planning Department public information officer replied, “The purpose is to ensure that certificate owners will use their property consistent with the purpose for which a certificate was issued (e.g. as an STR).”
However, Idyllwild resident Peter Szabadi believes this change will increase visitors to the Hill because causal STR owners will be required to rent their facility at least one to three more times each year.
There are no other changes to this Section or Section 11, which applies to both Idyllwild and the Wine Country.
Among the other proposed changes is the addition of a definition for “Urgent Circumstance.” This will occur whenever the Code Enforcement or Planning Director have determined that “. . . immediate action is necessary to abate a significant violation in order to protect public safety and/or prevent damage of surrounding property.”
This is then used in Section 14, which applies to inspections, violations and enforcement of the Ordinance.
In Section 13, “Notification and Complaints”, Paragraph b. is changed to shorten response times to 30 minutes from 60 minutes. The Responsible Operator will now have 30 minutes to contact Code Enforcement about receipt of the violation which must be corrected promptly notification. If second notification is received within 24 hours, the Operator will have 60 minutes to respond and then must arrange to meet Code Enforcement at the site.
Some question the actual effectiveness of enforcement of the Ordinance on the Hill. “The county is getting a lot of money, and none of it seems to be going to actually resolve issues or provide service,” wrote Jon Brown in an email to the Town Crier. “So much of it is going to wasted bureaucratic nonsense like checking signs are in place, so little is going to [Code Enforcement or Law Enforcement Offices] actually responding in person to a call.”
A new Paragraph 7 is added, which states that if an urgent circumstance is identified, Code Enforcement or Planning may immediately suspend and/or revoke a STR Certificate pursuant to the Summary Abatement process set forth in Ordinance No. 725.
Also, a new subsection 7 is added to Section 14, paragraph F. This could result in a suspension or revocation of a certificate if a responsible operator “. . . fails to respond to complaints, notify Code Enforcement, or meet with a Code Enforcement Officer as described in Section 13.b of the Ordinance.” This section relates to notifications and complaints.
Most of the other proposed changes are for clarification of existing policy or actions.
For more information and to review the Draft Ordinance, go to the Department’s website, https://planning.rctlma.org/short-term-rental-program.
Another public meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening, November 4 at the Temecula Public Library.
