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You are here: Home / Archives for vacation rentals

vacation rentals

Santa Cruz County Planning Further Vacation Rental Restrictions

November 13, 2017 by Seb Frey

Santa Cruz County Seal
Santa Cruz County Seal

Despite a large number of serious problems (homelessness, traffic, addiction, just to name a few) affecting the quality of life of everyone in Santa Cruz county, the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission is busily at work cooking up new and largely unnecessary vacation rental restrictions.

These additional restrictions will do nothing to alleviate the crushing housing availability and affordability problems we’re facing. Furthermore, it seems that nobody outside of County planning department staff (and perhaps a limited number of disgruntled neighbors) are actually calling for further vacation rental restrictions.  Nevertheless, a new ordinance is in the works and will be coming up for a vote of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors next month.

The proposed ordinance from the planning department staff on short term vacation rentals includes:

  1. Categorizing hosted rentals that have more than one bedroom available to qualify as bed and breakfasts inn, in which case the host would have to obtain a conditional permit under existing county code provisions.
  2. Making sure property owners obtain permits to host (i.e. even for renting out individual rooms)
  3. Limiting guests to one parking space
  4. Limit guest occupancy to 3 people per property excluding those under 8 years old
  5. Limit the number of nights a host can operate to no more than 55 nights per year in the three designated areas of Live Oak, Seacliffs/Aptos, and Davenport-Swanton area and no more than 110 nights in the rest of the county
  6. Places no limits on the number of permits available in a neighborhood (except where limits are already in place).
  7. Require annual reporting by hosts and annual renewal of permits
  8. The prohibition of ADUs, affordable housing, RVs, units occupied by long term rentals as a hosted rental
  9. Only permitting one guest rental per parcel (e.g. both units in a duplex could not be rented as vacation rentals)
  10. Allow only a single stay of up to 7 days per year without the requirement for a permit
  11. Require operators to obtain a TOT (Transient Occupancy tax) number from the County tax collector and to ensure TOT is paid

The County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the ordinance at their upcoming meeting on December 5th, 2017.  Concerned citizens should contact their Supervisor and make sure their voice are heard.

Related Posts On AptosCommunityNews

  • County is Planning Big Changes for Vacation Rentals (July 2, 2016)
  • Aptos Vacation Rental Restrictions Approved (January 27, 2015)
  • Planning Commission Recommends SADA Delay (November 12, 2014)
  • Aptos Vacation Rental Vote on November 12 (November 7, 2014)
  • Vacation Rental Restrictions coming to Aptos? (October 5, 2014)

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: board of supervisors, vacation rentals

County is Planning Big Changes for Vacation Rentals

July 2, 2016 by Seb Frey

More Restrictions are coming for Aptos Vacation Rentals
More Restrictions are coming for Aptos Vacation Rentals
This article is provided courtesy of Robert Singleton, the Government Affairs Director for the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors.  It is being provided to readers of AptosCommunityNews as many Aptos residents and home owners will be affected by the proposed changes.

During their June meeting the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted to place significantly harsher restrictions on local vacation rental units and property owners. If you have been following this issue for the past couple of years then you were likely already aware of the two existing designated tourism districts in both Live Oak and Seacliff.

Essentially, these districts limit the total number of houses that can be used as short terms rentals, as well as the number of short term rentals per neighborhood block.

Last Tuesday, the Board not only created a new district (encompassing Davenport and the surrounding areas), but also adopted a half measure process that governs how these permits are to be awarded and renewed, both of which will hurt property owners.

Now the original stated purpose for the creation of these districts was twofold:

  1. limit the neighborhood impacts that are associated with vacation rentals, and
  2. protect units that would (could) be used as long term rentals.

The Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors opposed these new regulations from the beginning because we saw them as a violation of private property rights, but also because it’s a classic case of the government picking winners and losers. By creating an artificial scarcity in the marketplace for permits (whose potential value may exceed $100,000), the Board was effectively able to distort the value of all the affected properties in these areas. Starting day 1, the homes that had permits instantly became more valuable than those that didn’t, and thus it was (and still is) within every household’s self-interest to seek out a permit, even if they don’t intend to use it.

Now the unintended consequences of enacting such a policy are pretty clear, but rather than address the fundamental problem in approach (placing arbitrary limits on a high demand market), the Board doubled down with measures meant to diminish the potential negative repercussions of the policy.

First, they decided to not deed restrict the permits (which is unlike almost every other use permit on the books), electing instead to adopt a 5 year period of use, thus making the market distortion in home values a temporary phenomenon; while hopefully allowing for more households to take advantage of this price inflation once the first permits began to expire. They also decided to award the first permits to those homeowners who had already been paying Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), which were few and far between. The rest of the permits: first come first served.

Now here is probably the most significant problem with this policy: If you limit the total number of properties that can be short term rentals, but choose not to pair the permit with the property, who gets to decide which properties get permits and when? Well they took the easy way out and basically created a process where no one decides, it’s as simple as whoever shows up first.

Buying a house is likely the most important investment a person will make in their lifetime, and now the County has the power to either add or takeaway a significant portion of that home’s value based upon what criteria? A permit that could easily be worth over $100,000 (in just revenue) over the 5 year period, and they have absolutely no process for determining who does or does not reap that benefit. First come, first served.

The Planning Commission, based upon a recommendation from staff, voted unanimously to build in a “grace period” whereby existing and legal short term rental units could reapply for the permit that they had already been enjoying. They were to be given up to 60 days to decide if they wanted to opt back into operation, so to speak, which they undoubtedly would because who wants to lose $100,000 of appraised value from their house?!? On Tuesday the Board (minus absent Zach Friend) voted to end that grace period entirely, and when paired with the first come first serve policy, basically means once those permits are up, no one knows what’s going to happen.

Staff and the Planning Commission both outlined multiple ways in which this problem could be avoided. They gave multiple options, including a lottery system and a criteria system. But the Board justified their stance in favor of the first come first served policy by stating “well we don’t know what’s going to happen when these permits come up for renewal, so let’s just wait until then.”

So there is now a massive economic interest in getting a vacation rental permit and no criteria for awarding that permit other than being one of the first people to grab it. They are no incentives for good financial standing, or good management, just incidental penalties for bad behavior. On top of this you don’t even have to use the permit. You only have to prove “significant rental use” when reapplying for your permit, 5 years later.

The County then also mandated that all new vacation rental units with 4 or more bedrooms (admittedly arbitrary) have to have a public hearing before the Zoning Administrator (ZA). Now beyond the practical problems associated with a public hearing (time of day, opportunity cost, etc.), there is no reason to even have one in the first place. Why? Because all new permits can already be appealed to that same ZA, through an already established process. Furthermore, the ZA has no grounds to deny an individual a permit anyway. If you meet all the requirements upon application then there are no other legal reasons why the ZA would be allowed to deny you.

So why do it?

The purpose is to intimidate would-be vacation landlords from going through the process to begin with. A mandatory public hearing creates the space for public shame. Again, even if the ZA can’t deny your permit you are still required to attend a hearing in which your neighbors (and frankly anyone who doesn’t like the idea of your vacation rental) are encouraged to show up and list all of the reasons why they don’t like your idea, despite the inherent economic benefit of getting one.

So this brings us to the most important part of this article: What can we do about this?

Good news! The ordinance has not yet been finalized and must go through both the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors again before becoming law. This means we need still have time to fight this! Here’s what you can do:

  1. Attend any and all hearings of the County Planning Commission, Housing Advisory Commission, and Board of Supervisors as possible. Even if they aren’t hearing this particular item on the day you attend, you should still stand up to speak during oral communications to let them know how you feel. The schedules for each of these bodies can be found here:
    a. Board of Supervisors
    b. Planning Commission
    c. Housing Advisory Commission
  2. If you cannot attend these meetings then please send a letter via email to all of the Supervisors and their staff: john.leopold@co.santa-cruz.ca.us, zach.friend@co.santa-cruz.ca.us, ryan.coonerty@santacruzcounty.us, greg.caput@co.santa-cruz.ca.us, bruce.mcpherson@co.santa-cruz.ca.us
  3. Write a letter to the editor to the Sentinel expressing your dissatisfaction with the new rules. Need material? Email me and I can provide you with some samples, or we can even write a letter together: gad@mysccar.org
  4. SHARE THIS ARTICLE! Seriously, share this article with all of your friends, post it on Facebook NextDoor, email it to your coworkers, send it to anybody who will listen!
  5. If you are interested in any of the above options but have questions or comments about anything in this article do not hesitate to email me: gad@mysccar.org. I can help you with what you want to say and how to say it. I am also going to start holding regular organizing meetings with people who are interested so that we can stay ahead of this issue.

Filed Under: News, Real Estate Tagged With: board of supervisors, vacation rentals

Aptos Vacation Rental Restrictions Approved

January 27, 2015 by Seb Frey

Seacliff Aptos Designated Area (SADA)
Seacliff Aptos Designated Area (SADA)

At a public hearing today, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt new Aptos vacation rental restrictions. These new restrictions were proposed last December but modified with some community input. The members of the community in attendance at the meeting today largely spoke in favor of the restrictions, and the vote of the supervisors was unanimous.

The newly adopted vacation rental restrictions for SADA (Seacliff/Aptos Designated Area) are for the most part a copy of the restrictions now in place in Live Oak (the so-called LODA, or Live Oak Designated Area). The Seacliff/Aptos Designated Area is defined as:

The “Sea Cliff/Aptos Designated Area” means that portion of the Aptos Planning Area bounded on the west by the Capitola city limit. on the north by Highway One, and on the east and southeast by Bonita Drive, San Andreas Road, and the Urban Services Line from San Andreas Road to Monterey Bay.

The ordinance will limit the number of vacation rentals to no more than 20% of the homes on any one given block. However, a number of “carve outs” have been created for some streets which have historically had a high number of vacation rentals. The following areas are specifically exempted from the 20% limit:

Pot Belly Beach Road; Las Olas Drive; those residentially-zoned parcels in the Rio Del Mar flats consisting of parcels fronting on Stephen Road. Marina Avenue. and Venetian Road between its intersection with the Esplanade and Aptos Beach Drive to its intersection with Lake Court and Stephen Road; those parcels fronting on or gaining access from Cliff Court or fronting on or
gaining access from Rio Del Mar Boulevard between its intersection with Aptos Beach Drive and Beach Drive to its intersection with Kingsburv Drive. Cliff Drive, and Beach Villa Lane; Beach Drive; and Via Gaviota.

In addition, it is now prohibited for a home that has an adjoining wall with another home to be used as a vacation rental, unless written permission is first given from the adjoining property owner(s).

Previously, vacation rental permits did not expire so long as the property was operated as a vacation rental for three out of five years. In LODA and now SADA, owners will need to renew their permits every five years.

Vacation rental restrictions apply only to whole-house vacation rentals. If owners are renting rooms or a “guest house” via services like VRBO.com or AirBNB.com, and the owner lives on site, no vacation rental permit is required for that.

The ordinance will now be submitted to the California Coastal Commission for approval at their mid-February 2015 meeting. It is anticipated that the Coastal Commission will give approval in time for the Summer 2015 season.

The entire ordinance and supporting documentation is available for download here on AptosCommunityNews.org. The file has been passed through a process to make the text searchable and copiable. Just click here to download it.

Update May 25, 2016:  rental of “accessory dwelling units” (aka guest houses) is explicitly prohibited by the vacation rental ordinance, which reads in part:

Habitable accessory structures, nonhabitable accessory structures, second units constructed under the provisions of SCCC 13.10.681, 13.20.107, or 13.20.108, and legally restricted affordable housing units shall not be used as vacation rentals

Filed Under: News, Real Estate Tagged With: airbnb, ordinance, real estate, restrictions, sada, vacation rentals, vrbo.com

Aptos Vacation Rental Vote on November 12

November 7, 2014 by Seb Frey

Santa Cruz County Seal
Santa Cruz County Seal

The Santa Cruz County planning commission is meeting for a final Aptos vacation rental vote on November 12. The meeting agenda is posted on the county web site. The meeting starts at 9:00 AM, and is to be held in the Board of Supervisors Chambers, Room 525 in the County Government Center at 701 Ocean Street in Santa Cruz (aka the Courthouse).

The county is proposing to bring vacation rental restrictions to the coastal, suburban areas of Aptos (i.e. Seacliff and Seascape, and Rio del Mar), similar to those currently imposed in the “Live Oak Designated Area” (LODA). This move has the support of many area residents, but not surprisingly, many are also opposed, in particular those in the real estate industry. Paul and Robert Bailey of Bailey Properties have sent a letter to affected owners, and have written a detailed response to the county’s proposed ordinance, both of which are worth taking a few moments to read.

You can also read the complete details of the proposed ordinance here.

Whatever your position on the vacation rental ordinance, this is an issue which many people care deeply about, and concerned citizens are encouraged to attend the meeting on November 12 if at all possible. Those unable to attend but would like to make their voices heard are encouraged to contact the office of Supervisor Zach Friend:

701 Ocean Street, Room 500
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 454-2200 (phone)
Email: zach.friend@co.santa-cruz.ca.us

Filed Under: News, Real Estate Tagged With: county, government, rio del mar, seacliff, seascape, vacation rentals

Vacation Rental Restrictions coming to Aptos?

October 5, 2014 by Seb Frey

There is a move afoot to limit the number of vacation rentals in the “coastal” areas of Aptos, specifically Seacliff, Seascape, and Rio del Mar. The limits would be identical to what is now presently permissible in the <a href="http://www.sccoplanning about his.com/Portals/2/County/Planning/policy/052-11LiveOakWeb.pdf” target=”_blank”>Live Oak Designated Area (LODA), which is the coastal area that encompasses Pleasure Point and the area near the Santa Cruz harbor.

If the restrictions are approved by the Santa Cruz county board of Supervisors, the designated areas in Aptos (SADA, or “Seacliff Aptos Designated Area”) would not allow vacation rental permits in excess of 20% of the homes on any one block. There is apparently a concern that the increasing number of homes used as vacation rentals would diminish the availability of homes used for long-term rentals, and increase the cost of renting in Aptos.

There are presently two streets in Aptos which have vacation rentals that exceed 20% of the homes on the street: Beach Drive, and Rio del Mar Boulevard between Beach Drive and the Kingsbury/Cliff Drive intersection. Under the ordinance, no new vacation rental permits would be approved on these streets.

The board of supervisors is to take up the issue at a public hearing on Tuesday, October 28 at 9:00 AM at the Board Chambers, County Administrative Building, 701 Ocean Street in Santa Cruz. People who are concerned with the issue, in favor or against, are encouraged to contact Supervisor Zach Friend or attend the hearing on October 28th.

We have posted some notes from the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission meeting on September 16, for those who are interested in learning more.

Seacliff Aptos Designated Area

Seacliff Aptos Designated Area

Filed Under: News, Real Estate Tagged With: aptos, county, rio de mar, seacliff, seascape, vacation rentals, zach friend

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