The county’s effort to subdue the untamed, wild-west operating environment for Short Term Vacation Rentals in and around Morongo Basin took a step closer to victory last week. Reporter Mike Lipsitz has more on this story of the county plan to regulate a peaceful truce between opposing interests…
For the second time in as many months, the county planning commission heard public comments on the proposed development code amendment regulating short-term vacation rentals in unincorporated communities. And while new language addresses a number of concerns raised by stakeholders at the August meeting, it is unlikely all involved can ever be fully satisfied. County Supervisor Dawn Rowe summed up the issue in an interview on Z107.7’s Up Close show on Friday,
“Some folks don’t want any vacation rentals at all and then there are some constituents that absolutely want no regulation, just let the market control itself. And so you have two completely opposite sides at odds.”
Following public comment, the Planning Commission voted to send the revised ordinance, as is, to county supervisors who will consider the it following a 30-day noticing period.
“I think it’s a safe bet to say that some iteration of this will absolutely be put in place and then it will go into effect immediately but we want to have a fair time for everybody to come into compliance and there’s an educational process that goes into that … this is the permit; this is what you need to do and not do,” said Rowe. “I won’t call it a grace period necessarily but there will be time for everybody to adjust.”
Excerpts of 3rd District County Supervisor Dawn Rowe’s interview with Gary Daigneault on the Z107.7 Up Close Show, September 6, 2019.
Gary Daigneault: I want to come back to vacation home rentals which have been largely unregulated in the desert. The county planning commission met on the subject Thursday. There are hundreds of them in the Basin.
Supervisor Rowe: Right now there is no ordinance in the Morongo Basin for short-term vacation rentals. It only exists in the county in the mountain areas so this Planning Commission action that they took yesterday is an ordinance that would expand the short-term vacation rental ordinance to cover all the unincorporated areas of the county including the Morongo Basin.
So, the action that was taken (yesterday) was to create an ordinance that will help, I hate to say this, but regulate that industry so that our homes … it is a balance, right? We want the economic driver to come here, but we also want our neighborhoods to remain rural living neighborhoods. So, it is an ordinance that will reduce the impact that that has so that residents can still enjoy the quality of life that they’ve had here in the past as much as we can possibly do that at the county.
Gary Daigneault: Now how does the process work? Yesterday, they develop the ordinance, what is the next step? When will we have to come in compliance with those rules?
Supervisor Rowe: I’m going to go back a little bit. In early August it was first heard at the Planning Commission level. And something that county staff did because we’re so remote out here was to have the video broadcasting set up in the Government Center in Joshua Tree. Everybody could come in and they could communicate and broadcast to the Planning Commission, so all their voices were heard. It was hours.
So at the Planning Commission level to make sure that it was as thoughtful as it could be, so we tabled it and then did it again yesterday to continue the discussion and a lot of the points that were brought up in early August were then incorporated into the new ordinance, so I have to commend planning staff, commissioners, and then our public. In the outreach it’s been a lot of work that’s gone into this so now there is an actual ordinance that the Planning Commission has said that this is what they would like to see.
There is a noticing period of approximately 30 days before it will come before the Board of Supervisors and then the actual board in a public meeting will discuss it, debate if, there are any additional tweaks or other concerns that other supervisors have, it will be at that time and we will push that to the public so they can come in and weigh in on that also.
Gary Daigneault: So, the next step in this process is to take this proposed ordinance get it out there so people can take a look at it and then the Board of Supervisors, based on this new ordinance, can decide if they’re going to put it in place or not?
Supervisor Rowe: Yes, I think it’s a safe bet to say that some iteration of this will absolutely be put in place and then it will go into effect immediately but we want to have a fair time for everybody to come into compliance and there’s an educational process that goes into that … this is the permit; this is what you need to do and not do. I won’t call it a grace period necessarily but there will be time for everybody to adjust.
So, some folks don’t want any vacation rentals at all and then there are some constituents that absolutely want no regulation, just let the market control itself. And so you have two completely opposite sides at odds and because we’re the county and we are a large entity it just takes a long time to go through that; there are noticing requirements and trying to get it right and reach out to stakeholder groups on what’s important and what’s not.
I’ll give you an example, in a draft ordinance that’s been up for the public to look at we had prohibited casitas and sort of mother-in-law units from being vacation rentals. I have used vacation rentals; I don’t own one, but I think that is the ideal vacation rental were the owner is in the home and I’m staying in the casita. They don’t want me to have loud parties; they don’t want me to have a wedding in their backyard.
That was not a part of the draft ordinance originally. So, what takes the process so long? We heard tremendous people come out and say these (casita type units) are the best type of vacation rentals. So we went back and tweaked the draft ordinance and said ‘okay’ and then we heard it at the Planning Commission and that was an overwhelming sentiment.
Gary Daigneault: Short-term rentals are more regulated in the cities, there must be a foundation or working bathroom, etc. Is the County ordinance going to reflect some of those things that the cities are coming up with?
So right now, all those tents and yurts are prohibited under the county code as it exists today. And they’re renting by the hundreds as there’s no ordinance in place yet.
Supervisor Rowe: Yes, and you asked me what takes so long, when we looked at just the traditional vacation rental and these started to pop up and we decided it was in the best interest of moving forward as expeditiously as we could to just have traditional vacation rentals in this first round of ordnance and then go back and look at, well, I mean they’re already prohibited so in essence you can call Code Enforcement in and Code Enforcement would shut those alternative type tents and things like that down.
Gary Daigneault: So, there are a lot of them out there but they’re not legal. But they’re not going to go out there and start proactive enforcement until there’s an ordinance in place is that correct?
Supervisor Rowe: Typically, in government at all levels its reactive enforcement. And I will say that our County was very fortunate to have added two additional code enforcement positions. So we have budgeted for this fiscal year which started July 1st for two additional bodies to be able to add to help with the education in the implementation of the ordinance so that our neighborhoods can kind of go back to little bit more peaceful, thoughtful vacation rental in the Morongo Basin that we enjoy.
A recording of Supervisor Rowe’s complete interview can be found on the September 6, 2019 Z107.7 FM Up Close Podcast.
