Board extends moratorium for rentals in Idyllwild area, Temecula Valley
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously today to extend a moratorium on the issuance of new short-term rental permits in the unincorporated Temecula Valley, as well as the Idyllwild area, giving county staff time to research options for allowing additional rentals without over-saturating neighborhoods.
"We're talking about rights here,'' board Chairman Jeff Hewitt said. "People have the right to enjoy their property, have peace and quiet. But we're also talking about the rights of people who can afford to buy something to be able to rent it out. These two areas (mountain communities and Temecula Valley Wine Country) are extremely unique. This moratorium is too long. But we need to give staff time ... to (figure out) how to address some of the problems we have today."
The moratorium is slated to be in place until Sept. 9, 2023, according to the Transportation & Land Management Agency.
The supervisors approved an urgency ordinance establishing the moratorium last month. However, that was only for a 45-day period. The pause would have ended this week.
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Supervisor Chuck Washington, whose Third District encompasses the areas in question, said last week that "special consideration" is required for the locations because they're close to being "inundated" with short-term rental properties.
The board on Oct. 18 signed off on a new short-term rental regulatory framework for unincorporated communities, but Washington and TLMA administrators supported excluding the Temecula Valley and Idyllwild-Pine Cove area from the new Short-Term Rental Ordinance, No. 927, until specific problems related to enforcement of STR regulations in each location could be ironed out.
"Most residents want restrictions," Pine-Cove Homeowners' Association President Woody Henderson told the board. "We need to bring back peace and safety."
Alexandra DeCarlo, a short-term rental operator, disagreed with extending the moratorium, saying all it would do is generate "more dialogue" that was already covered during debate over Ordinance No. 927.
Temecula Valley resident Ron Kuehl told the board that his home was "surrounded by short-term rentals" and that the Wine Country in general had experienced an "explosion" in the number of properties available for overnight stays, impinging on permanent residents' quality of life.
The TLMA provided the supervisors with a report on Oct. 18 indicating that many residents in the mountain communities and the Temecula Valley favored restrictions on short-term rental permits, based on informal surveys taken during two community meetings earlier this month.
The report showed that the majority of community members who participated in the Temecula Valley survey -- 27% -- were content with countywide regulations being applied before other actions are taken to specifically address permitting in the Wine Country area. But they were followed closely by a sizable number -- 22% -- supporting an outright ban on additional permits.
The highest number tracked in the Idyllwild-Pine Cove survey -- 33% -- signaled a desire for a cap on short-term rentals in the mountain communities. The next closest number -- 21% -- favored a stipulation that the county consider housing availability in the area before implementing any new regulations.
The new framework established under Ordinance No. 927 focuses on occupancy limitations, noise controls, parking designations and other health and safety provisions for short-term rental properties. It was in response to increasing problems stemming from unlicensed vacation rentals.
TLMA officials told the board last month that applications for rental certificates had surged over the previous 13 months, leading to an average of 54 new certificates being issued every month, a disproportionately high number of them going to property owners in the Idyllwild-Pine Cove area and the Temecula Valley.
"If the increase continues, adverse impacts that have the potential to endanger the health and safety of residents, guests and the very environment and resources that attract visitors to the county will increase,'' according to a TLMA statement.
Officials noted that a high concentration of short-term rental properties could prove problematic in the Temecula Valley Wine Country, undermining "the character of the community."
Similar concerns were raised regarding the Idyllwild area, where 12% of the estimated 1,100 licensed short-term rentals in unincorporated communities are now located, according to the TLMA.
Short-term rentals are defined as residential dwellings leased for a maximum of 30 days and a minimum of two days and one night.
