County to get update on short-term rental issue
Staff seeking direction on ordinance, end of moratorium
The Inyo County Board of Supervisors, among other items on its meeting agenda for today, is set to receive a presentation from staff regarding the status of short-term rentals in Inyo County, which could lead to an updated ordinance.
Supervisors at their meeting today also are scheduled to discuss ending a county-wide moratorium on short-term rental applications that has been in place since December 2022. The moratorium was put in place to give county staff time to review the impacts short-term rentals could have on the county’s housing inventory overall as well as update relevant county ordinances to address concerns supervisors have heard from constituents.
A short-term rental in the context of the county zoning code means the rental of certain residentially zoned properties for 30-days or less. It does not include lodging businesses (motels, hotels, bed and breakfast etc.) or residential rentals on commercially zoned properties. Because the city of Bishop is incorporated, it has its own short-term rental ordinance.
Staff has developed and the board of supervisors have approved iterations of short-term rental ordinances in the past as the issue, especially through popular apps like Airbnb, has become more popular and more contentious depending on who you talk to.
As supervisors were contemplating the shortterm rental application moratorium, they heard from some county residents who said without short-term rentals they would not be able to finance their primary residences.
Currently, according to county staff, there are 4,612 dwelling units available that meet the zoning requirements for shortterm rental permits and 91 total short-term rental permits, representing just under 2% of the available units in the county.
Starlite and Lone Pine appear to be the most favored areas for shortterm rentals, with the North County and McLaren/ Milovich/ Desiderata area next, according to county staff. The area including Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills still has by far the highest number of short-term rental permits with 26.
Recommendations
One option staff is recommending is to develop an ordinance based on geographic areas in the county for the purposes of defining the geographic areas in which rentals would be allowed.
Other recommendations to be reviewed include a 5% cap for each
established geographic area as 5% appears to be the tipping point for tolerance of short-term rentals based on public input provided to the county, according to county staff.
Staff also is recommending supervisors lift the moratorium on hosted short-term rental permit applications. This would require planning staff to prepare an ordinance and present it at a public hearing to the county Planning Commission for a recommendation for the board’s approval and subsequently, staff would present it to the board, also at a hearing for review of approval.
“The short-term rental program in the county, overall, has been successful with respect to property owners being able to generate income from their property and there is still a lot of interest from a certain contingency of people in getting short-term rental permits,” county staff notes. “There is also a counter contingency of people who have, do, and always will, hate short-term rentals, as well as, some who believe short-term rentals are taking away longterm rental opportunities. Planning and County Administrative Officer (CAO) staff are looking into ways to boost the number of housing units in the county with a multipronged approach that includes possibly changing zoning and development standards that might be hindering housing development, a continued push for land divestment from other agencies, and actually finding ways to fund and develop specific properties.”
The Inyo County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to meet in regular session at 10 a.m. today with the agenda available at the county website, www.inyocounty.us. The meeting will be held in the Board Chambers at the County Administrative Center in Independence, 224 N. Edwards St. You can stream meetings live and participate via Zoom through the county’s website at www.inyocounty.us/.