County to hold workshop on short-term rentals
County continues to work on new ordinance
The Inyo County Board of Supervisors at its Tuesday meeting is scheduled to hold a workshop regarding the short-term rental of residential properties in the unincorporated areas of the county.
County supervisors have been trying to strike a balance between the rights of property owners, maintaining an already insufficient housing stock for current residents and the concerns from residents who say short-term rentals can have a negative impact on neighborhoods.
The board implemented a moratorium on new short-term rental permits in November 2022 and has extended it to give county staff time to develop a more comprehensive ordinance to address issues raised by supervisors and their constituents.
According to county staff, 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 located on commercially zoned properties.
Drafting a new ordinance
The agenda notes that staff is requesting supervisors’ direction to prepare an ordinance to adopt updates to the violation, enforcement, modification and revocation sections of the short-term rental ordinance as presented to the board.
Staff also is proposing to update the permit application of the shortterm rental ordinance section to include proof of insurance requirement as the board requested.
Short-term rental permit
areas Workshop discussion also is expected to include updates to the ordinance to include the short-term rental permit areas as presented by staff for the purpose of defining the geographic areas in which rentals are
allowed; and include these areas:
• A 5-percent cap for each established geographic area as 5-percent.
• Establish a 5-year permit time limit and require a ministerial review of new short-term rental permits including:
• A check to ensure verifiable violation complaints have not been received on the short-term rental.
• Verification from the Building and Safety Department that no building code violations have been sited on the property or the building the shortterm rental is permitted for.
• Verification from the Environmental Health Department that no well, septic, or other health and safety violations have been found on the property or the building the shortterm rental is permitted for.
• A review of Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) history.
County staff also is seeking direction on the establishment of an annual review of short-term rental permit use and require the relinquishment of unused permits as well as the lifting of the current short-term rental moratorium.
Once the board gives direction, county planning staff would then prepare an ordinance and present it at a public hearing to the Inyo County Planning
Commission for a recommendation for the board’s approval. Subsequently, staff would present it to the board, also at a public hearing for review of approval.
The board of supervisors adopted the county’s short-term rental ordinance in 2018.
It was then updated in 2020, primarily to eliminate the non-hosted permit type, according to county staff.
Currently, staff notes, there are 26 non-hosted short-term rental permits (these are no longer allowed) and 65-hosted short-term rental permits (hosted short-term rental permits require the owner or a manager to be on the property during a shortterm rental stay).
There are 4,612 dwelling units available for short-term rental permits (those that meet the zoning requirements) and 91 total short-term rental permits, representing just under 2-percent of the available units in the county.
The board requested that staff continue to work on updates to the shortterm rental ordinance, specifically on the enforcement section, creating short-term rental areas, caps, and time limits.
The areas for shortterm rental evaluations and possible caps that were presented at the March 2023 workshop have remained the same, except that the Bishop
Creek, Chipmonk Canyon, Rossi Hill area has been combined with Wilkerson and minor changes to clean up area borders also were made, according to staff.
Of the 15 short-term rental evaluation areas within Inyo County, staff notes that Starlite and the Lone Pine area appear to be the most favored areas for short-term rentals, with the North County and McLaren/Milovich/ Desiderata areas next. The area including Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills has by far the highest number of short-term rental permits with 35. The next highest number of permits is the McLaren, Milovich, Desiderata area with eight.
Tuesday’s workshop also is expected to include possibly capping the number of short-term rentals an area can have as a means to preserve housing stock for permanent residents and maintain the character of neighborhoods.
The Inyo County Board of Supervisors meets in regular session at 10 a.m. 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/.