Short-Term Rentals

Mendocino County is hosting the first of five “stakeholder meetings to discuss current and future policies on short-term rentals and their impacts to local communities, real estate, and tourism” on Wednesday in Fort Bragg.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. April 9 at the Veterans Hall, located at 360 N. Harrison St., and is the only one of the five public meetings scheduled on the Mendocino Coast, which is where the vast majority of short-term rentals are located.

According to a map on the county’s website showing the locations of officially recognized short-term rentals marked with yellow dots, at least half of them are located along the coast. Most of the dots are clustered near Mendocino and Fort Bragg, but there are also significant clusters in the south coast near Gualala and Point Arena, and a reasonable amount around Hopland and Talmage.

When asked why there were no meetings scheduled in the southern section of the Mendocino Coast where his jurisdiction is, 5th District Supervisor Ted Williams explained that the ordinance being

discussed was focused on inland areas, not coastal. When asked why the first meeting was being held in Fort Bragg then, Williams explained that while “Fort Bragg has development that most would consider coastal, it is not in the coastal zone.”

When asked if cities like Point Arena and Gualala then are considered coastal, Williams said “mostly yes, (but in) some places (the line is) a block or two from the ocean, and in others it is two miles inland.”

Second District Supervisor Maureen Mulheren said that the official zoning designations can be confusing, especially for Ukiah Valley residents who consider anything over the mountains to be coastal, and that much of the same issues regarding the inland-coastal boundaries were brought up during discussions regarding regulations for short-term camping.

One Point Arena resident who operates a short-term rental expressed surprise that no upcoming meetings were planned in or near the south coast, but was even more surprised about the fact that only the last meeting being held in Ukiah could be attended virtually via Zoom.

When asked why only the meeting in Ukiah could be attended virtually, Mulheren said she could not speak to that, and that Planning Department Director Julia Krog was not available to ask. No county staff could be reached for comment on how the meeting locations were chosen, and why attending virtually via Zoom would only be offered during the Ukiah meeting.

As to why there are meetings planned in the city of Willits and Covelo, which are both areas that show little to no short-term rentals on the county’s map, Mulheren said that it likely was in part due to the expected increase in such offerings after the “future buildout of the Great Redwood Trail” through the northern part of inland Mendocino County.

After the Fort Bragg meeting next week, the other meetings are:

Anderson Valley: Monday, April 14, 6 p.m. Boonville Veterans Hall, 14470 Highway 128, Boonville

Willits: Wednesday, April 16. 6 p.m. Mendocino County Museum, 400 E. Commercial St., Willits

Covelo: Wednesday, April 23. 3 p.m. Round Valley Library, 23925 Howard St., Covelo

Ukiah: Wednesday April 30. 6 p.m. Conference Room C Mendocino County Administration Center, 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah and virtual participation via Zoom: https://mendocinocounty.zoom.us/j/86173760912

According to county staff’s description of the upcoming meetings, “planners will provide a brief presentation with information on current short-term rental policies, adjacent jurisdictions’ policies, and common concerns, followed by a round-table conversation to elicit ideas for a future ordinance. Meetings are in-person events” with the exception of the last in Ukiah.

Just some of the “discussion guidelines and police considerations” listed on the county website regarding the short-term rentals ordinances are: protect long term rental housing and available housing; discourage long-term rental properties from being converted to (short-term-rentals); prevent housing on the market from being sold to corporations; balance short term rentals in residential neighborhoods to preserve residential character; prevent residential neighborhoods from being “overtaken” by guests to the detriment of the neighborhood and residential feel of a neighborhood.

Staff also notes that “the (short-term rental) market is consistently in flux, meaning any ordinance adopted may have to change to meet the market and evolving community needs, (and that) county staff will regularly revisit the ordinance, once adopted, to ensure that it still aligns with the community’s goals. For example, adjustments to the cap on the number of STRs allowed may merit a revisit.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)