TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Jeff Gibson, Interim Community Development Director
SUBJECT:Title
Consider Request by Mayor Hersman and Mayor Pro Tem Montgomery to Direct the Planning Commission to Consider Revisions to Use Permit Requirements for Short-Term Rentals in Commercial Zones (Interim Community Development Director Gibson).
DISCUSS AND PROVIDE DIRECTION
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council discuss and provide direction as to whether the Planning Commission should consider recommending changes to the regulations and standards for short-term rentals in commercial zones.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action.
BACKGROUND:
Pursuant to the Brown Act, the City Council can discuss items not on an agenda except under very limited circumstances. The City Council has developed a process to allow individual Councilmembers to request, with the support of another Councilmember, that items be placed on a future agenda for City Council discussion. At that future meeting, the item is identified on the agenda in full compliance with the Brown Act. Discussion allows an opportunity to the public to provide input and the City Council, as a body, to decide whether it wants to provide direction to staff, the Planning Commission or come back for a future discussion. The process:
STEP ONE:
During “Future Agenda Items,” a Councilmember may request that an item be placed on the agenda. If another Councilmember concurs with placing the item on the agenda, the item is placed on a future agenda. This Step One occurred on August 6, 2019.
STEP TWO:
The item has been placed on the agenda. After discussion, the City Council has the following options:
a) Receive and File the report.
b) Direct the Planning Commission to consider whether the regulations and standards for short term rentals should be changed.
c) Continue the item to a future date.
STEP THREE:
If City Council chooses option b) in Step Two above, the item will be scheduled for a public hearing for a future Planning Commission meeting.
DISCUSSION:
At the request of Mayor Hersman and Mayor Pro Tem Montgomery at the August 6, 2019 City Council meeting, staff has placed this item on the agenda for further discussion. Short term rentals are a conditionally permitted use in commercial zones with a use permit and are treated the same as other short-term commercial uses such as hotels and motels. However, often times, structures appropriate for short-term rentals in the commercial zones may have only one to two separate units, and possibly three units. As such, the regulations and standards for a hotel with more rooms for rent may not be necessary to mitigate the impacts associated with a much smaller scale temporary lodging. The City Council may want to direct the Planning Commission to consider whether the regulations and standards for short term rentals in commercial zones may be relaxed, reduced or tailored to fit the impacts associated with such uses. Another possible consideration is whether the City should require only an administrative permit, with appropriate conditions, for short term rentals with two or less units for rent, in commercial zones.