Sonoma pauses new vacation rentals

Decision for rural areas comes amid high demand

Sonoma County is temporarily freezing new vacation rentals like Airbnbs and Vrbo properties in its unincorporated areas.

On Tuesday, the county board of supervisors voted unanimously to suspend approvals on new short-term rentals for 45 days in an effort to mete out permits more democratically as it wades through a surge of recent applications from Sonoma homeowners seeking to rent out their properties in rural getaways.

The county has issued more than 1,800 short-term rental permits overall. In the past two months, demand has soared — and the county has received more than 115 permit applications following the announcement of a slate of proposed vacation rental regulations that could take effect later this year. They include a licensing system for prospective rental hosts and limits on the number of allowable vacation rentals in certain neighborhoods — typically capped at 5% of total housing stock.