County planners release proposed vacation rental regulations for public comment.

It’s been a long-term project for Monterey County planners trying to hammer out details for short-term rentals.

They’ve been working for nearly five years on the controversial topic, holding numerous public meetings with passionate views both pro and con and turning out thousands of pages of staff reports. Every time it seemed the county might be getting close to new regulations, the matter got kicked back to staff for more study.

The matter of short-term rentals just might get resolved in the near term, however. Maybe. Those who’d rather limit or ban vacation rentals are already mentioning legal action.

On Monday, April 22, the Monterey County Resource Management Agency announced the Planning Department has three draft ordinances ready for public review at its Salinas office and on its website. The issue has been renamed in the latest revision—from “short-term rentals” to “vacation rentals.”

Under the definition, a vacation rental includes: commercial short-term rentals where the owner need not be present; limited short-term rentals where a property is rented out four times or less in a calendar year; and homestays in which visitors rent a room in an occupied home. The length of a stay in a vacation rental is 30 days or less.

One ordinance regulates vacation rental activities, a second relates to vacation rentals in the coastal zone and the third is for non-coastal zones.

For now the county is collecting public comments on the proposed ordinances, and it will probably attract more than a few. The vocal residents’ group the Carmel Valley Association has already issued a statement in an email to members criticizing the ordinances for “regulating but not limiting” vacation rentals.

“CVA feels that allowing absentee owned STRs, which are in essence hotels and party houses in residential areas, and not abiding by master plant limits, violate the letter and spirit of the law, and we will make the case before county bodies, and, if necessary, the courts,” the statement signed by CVA President Pris Walton reads.

The RMA’s environmental analysis report disagrees, stating that the three types of vacation rentals “would not impact the preservation of the residential character and density of the existing dwelling and neighborhood for which they are established.”

The county is currently accepting public comments on vacation rentals. Comments received by May 24 will be considered in the Planning Commission staff report, according to Special Programs Manager Melanie Beretti. 

A hearing before the commission is tentatively scheduled for June 26.

Editor's Note: This post was updated with new information from the Monterey County Resource Management Agency.