MORONGO BASIN MAC GETS UPDATE ON COUNTY SHORT-TERM RENTAL ORDINANCE

The Morongo Basin Municipal Advisory Council will get an update tonight on the county’s plans to regulate short-term vacation rentals of private homes to out-of-towners in unincorporated areas. Reporter David Haldane has the details…

If you operate an AirBnB in Joshua Tree, heads up; you may soon be subject to county control. That’s the likely upshot of a report on short-term vacation rentals to be presented at tonight’s meeting of the Morongo Basin Municipal Advisory Council. The presenter is Andy Wingert, chief code enforcer for San Bernardino’s Land Use Services Department. With the number of AirBnB and other short-term rentals proliferating countywide, his department has been circulating an updated draft of an ordinance that, among other things, requires $700 permits, controls density and limits noise.
Though the ordinance currently applies only to mountain areas, a staff report indicates that it may soon be expanded to include Joshua Tree and other unincorporated county areas.

Tonight’s meeting gets underway 6:30 p.m. at the Joshua Tree Community Center on Sunburst Avenue.