Jones calls for ban on short-term rentals
Paradise Town Councilor Jody Jones doesn’t want short-term rentals within the town limits, calling for the town to create an ordinance that would zone those out of town.
The comments came in a discussion where staff asked the council if it desired any changes to its Paradise Municipal Code for the creation of short-term rental zoning regulations to present at a future council meeting.
Community Development Director for planning and on- site, Susan Hartman, told the council the town had a discussion on the subject before the Camp Fire in 2017, noting that at about the same time the county was looking at its ordinance as well.
Hartman said that there are 12 sites in Paradise that are short-term rental sites, which are generally places that rent out spaces for less than 30 days at a time.
Hartman used four examples of what Paradise could do citing Grass Valley, Redding, Placer County and Butte County. One of the reasons Hartman is looking at an ordinance is because the town does not receive the transient occupancy tax from many of those short-term rental sites in Paradise
Jones said the reason she was interested in banning such rentals is that they could have a negative impact on affordable housing in Paradise.
Jones later said in the meeting that if the council wasn’t interested in banning such short-term rentals outright she wanted to place a cap on the number of short-term rentals in Paradise.
She pointed out that any transient lodging that is less than 31 consecutive days is subject to the 12% tax, a tax the town collects from motels and hotels, and Hartman said an ordinance would level the playing field.
Councilor Greg Bolin broached the subject of the TOT tax and wanted to know what the town was doing with the TOT revenue, which is currently going into the general fund. He pointed out that the town used to fund the Chamber of Commerce with that money but no longer does.
“Personally, I’m just one of the five but I’d like to see a proposal as to what the TOT funds go to,” he said. “I mean, I don’t think we collect money just throw it in the general fund.”
That prompted mayor Steve Crowder to ask how much money the TOT tax creates for the town. However, Finance Director/ Town Treasurer, Ross Gilb, did not have that number off the top of his head.
That’s when Jones said that Hartman didn’t address her biggest concern with this part of the private economy.
“And that is the impact of short-term rentals on the affordability of housing, people who buy them, because they can make a lot more money renting them on VRBO or wherever then they can renting the house out or selling the house,” she said, adding that’s why she’s opposed two short term rentals.
“For the most part, if they’re a single- family home being rented as a short-term rental. I don’t have any issue with the glamping tents we have, or the units at Feather River Canyon. But I don’t want to see people buying up the single-family homes in our town. And so, I would personally like to see a total ban on that.”
Councilor Steve “Woody” Culleton said he shared Jones’ concerns calling the act of buying a house and then renting it as a shortterm rental instead of selling it “terrible.”
Although he wasn’t sure how the town could ban someone from buying a house, and asked how would they know that someone is in the shortterm rental business unless they have an ordinance that gives them a way of finding out.
Councilor Rose Tryon, saying that she tries to look at it from both sides, noted the property rights issues involved.
“I can see a property rights issue for people on the property to be able to do what they think they need to do with their property or what to do with their property,” she said. “And I think that there’s kind of a lot of possibilities there. I mean, if somebody has to live outside our area for a while, and they want to rent their home out and then come back and live in it later.”
She also said such rentals could be used for workers who need a short-term place to stay while helping paradise rebuild. And she said that she understood Jones’ concerns but there could be some “guardrails” put in the ordinance to minimize some of those concerns.
Hartman told the council that staff would bring back a set of proposals for the council to vet through before presenting a formal ordinance to the Planning Commission.
New fire engine
On Tuesday night, the Paradise Town Council unanimously approved a measure that will result in the purchase of a type one Pierce Enforcer fire engine. In addition to purchasing the new fire truck, it also authorized the disposal of the old one in an effort to qualify for a Butte County air quality management district grant award.
The $920,000 new fire engine will be purchased by using the $570,000 of this town’s general fund reserves and another $350,000 from the Measure V fund.
The decision to scrap the 2002 type 1 Pierce fire engine could result in a $64,824 award from the BCAMD.
Dispatch on the Ridge
The council also unanimously approved a request to enter into a contract with Motorola Solutions to purchase and install a new dispatch radio system and related equipment, upon the town attorney’s approval.
The decision is part of the process of re- establishing a dispatch center in Paradise. Paradise police chief Eric Reinbold told the council that the dispatch center would be placed in the radio room at Engine 81.
He added that the reason they’re asking for approval now is that the lead time in getting this system up and running is about 28 weeks and Reinbold hopes to have the dispatch operational in early 2023.
Currently, Paradise Police and Cal Fire-Paradise are being dispatched out of Oroville as a result of the 2018 Camp Fire. The council approved the purchase, despite a $230,633 increase in costs for the system in the past year.