The Board of Supervisors will reconvene a hearing Tuesday on proposed amendments to Riverside County’s short-term rental ordinance, focusing on the regulation of rental properties in Idyllwild-Pine Cove and the Temecula Valley Wine Country.
The first hearing on modifications to Ordinance No. 927 was Nov. 7 and spanned about five hours, after which the board was undecided on several issues and wanted new provisions inserted.
A moratorium on the issuance of short-term rental permits in the mountain communities and Temecula Valley was first implemented in September 2022, then again last August, providing the Planning Commission time to consider targeted modifications to the ordinance, which were approved by the commission in a 4-0 vote. That action resulted in the matter going before the board for final consideration.
Among the proposed changes on the board’s agenda Tuesday is a Transportation & Land Management Agency recommendation to increase the number of parcels available for conversion to short-term rental in the wine country zone designated “WCW” from 114 to 129.
Based on the board’s expressed wishes, TLMA staff also put forward a proposal to enable existing short-term rental certificate holders to transfer them to family members in the event of the holders’ deaths.
A third recommendation is to waive the current proposed policy of limiting short-term rental owners and operators to two certificates in Idyllwild and wine country if they already have more than that number certificated and available to rent.
The ownership restriction does not apply anywhere else in the county.
A fourth recommendation would offer an avenue for Airbnb owners who have been paying transient occupancy taxes to the county during the moratorium to have priority access to prospectively available short-term certificates.
A fifth recommendation is for maintaining a lottery for the awarding of certificates in the mountain communities and wine country whenever officials decide to increase the current cap on certificates.
“A lottery system is the most transparent and fair way to allow new STRs and is the recommended approach,” according to TLMA.
Officials are also asking the board to make it unequivocal that off-street parking at short-term rental properties is prohibited.
On Oct. 18, 2022, the board signed off on the new short-term rental regulatory framework for unincorporated communities, but Supervisor Chuck Washington and TLMA officials supported excluding the Temecula Valley and Idyllwild-Pine Cove from the STR ordinance until specific problems related to enforcement of regulations in each location could be ironed out.
Under the proposals submitted by TLMA, the number of rentals in Idyllwild-Pine Cove would be limited to a total of 500. There are already 474 in operation. In the Temecula Valley Wine Country, a total of 227 would be allowed under the proposed regulatory framework. The number now in operation wasn’t clear.
There is a 500-foot separation requirement proposed that would mandate any newly certificated STRs be at least that distance from the nearest residence.
The new regulations would also require any STR operator countywide to be at least 21 years old, though in Temecula Valley Wine Country, he or she would have to be 25.
The proposed amendments further seek to include “responsible operators” and “responsible guests” at short-term rental properties in being held liable for paying penalties in the event a property is determined to be a nuisance because of parties or other disturbances. Currently, only owners can be fined.
The revised framework also proposes testing requirements to confirm STR operators understand county regulations and are able to comply with them.
The regulatory framework established under Ordinance No. 927 focused on occupancy limitations, noise controls, parking designations and other health and safety provisions for STRs. It was in response to increasing problems stemming from unlicensed vacation rentals.
There are an estimated 1,130 licensed short-term rentals in unincorporated areas countywide, with the greatest concentrations in the Temecula Valley and mountain communities, according to TLMA.
Short-term rentals are defined as residential dwellings leased for a maximum of 30 days and a minimum of two days and one night.