LAGUNA BEACH – With summer approaching, city officials approved an emergency ordinance aimed at quelling the growing tide of property owners who offer up their homes and apartments as short-term rentals in this beachside community.
Airbnb, VRBO and Homeaway – which market short-term rentals – have exploded in popularity in Southern California, prompting homeowners and investors to take advantage of carving out a niche to make extra money.
Some of those properties are single-family homes in quiet neighborhoods near downtown or the beach. Others are apartment buildings rented out weekly.
In their action Tuesday, the Laguna Beach City Council approved a 45-day moratorium to research options. Among those options: an outright ban, making already dense residential areas off limit, adding city staff to monitor ads and holding websites legally accountable.
They are also considering options, similar to a decision last week in Santa Monica, in which property owners can “home-share” – in which a host stays in the house and rents out a spare bedroom or couch space. Santa Monica banned short-term rentals last week and officials there said they likely removed 1,400 of 1,700 vacation rentals advertised on short-term lodging websites.
In Laguna Beach, since 1999 city officials have received more than 100 short-term lodging applications – 64 have been approved.
The 60 percent approval is likely due to a long-standing City Council policy that requires those issuing permits to study neighborhood compatibility. But city officials worry about the hundreds of illegal listings on sites advertising opportunities in Laguna Beach. What will happen to neighborhood character?
City officials mostly find out about illegal rentals when neighbors complain of noise, parking impacts and trash.
When code enforcement comes out, they’re told out-of-town guests are friends or relatives of the property owner. When the guests keep changing, things become more obvious but it’s hard to enforce, said Assistant City Manager Christa Johnson.
“It’s becoming a 3-1 ratio of illegal to legal,” said Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow. “How do we get a handle on this?”
Elsewhere in Orange County, Aliso Viejo banned adopted short-term rentals citing noise, parking problems, trash and degredation of the neighborhoods. The new ordinances there gives Aliso Viejo grounds to prosecute those in violation of the new code. Newport Beach re-evaluates permits every two years. If there are violations, permits can be revoked. They are allowed but monitored in Dana Point and San Clemente.
“If there is any community in the country that could be overwhelmed by this, it could be us,” Dicterow said. “Very often hotels are at 100 percent capacity. For many people who struggle to maintain a property here, this may be the only way to hang on to it.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or Twitter:@lagunaini
