Screenshot of Tuesday’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting.
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The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors returned to the contentious and somewhat complex subject of short-term rentals (Airbnb, Vrbo, etc.) during this week’s regular meeting.
A little over a month ago, the board adopted a 45-day urgency ordinance that placed a temporary ban on new short-term rentals (dwelling units that are rented to guests for 30 consecutive days or less) to give staff time to form new rules for such uses. During this week’s regular meeting, the board considered a 22-month extension to the urgency ordinance.
“The purpose of this is to discourage people from rushing to initiate short-term rentals during the period when an ordinance is being adopted,” Planning Director John Ford explained. “The adoption of the moratorium and the extension of the moratorium do not change the way the county is going about treating short-term rentals. … It is important that the regulations do get adopted and that we’re able to proceed without having to have people arguing about whether or not they’re pre-existing or not.”
First District Supervisor Rex Bohn asked whether the proliferation of short-term rentals “has reached the level where we need to have [an] ordinance or a moratorium going forward,” noting that he has not seen much of an interest in short-term rentals in the unincorporated areas of his district.
“I’ve never gotten a lot of complaints,” he said. “I mean, I’ve had some issues [and] we’ve talked to you and we’ve addressed. I think the way we do this is we address an issue. … If you have one bad apple, you don’t throw the whole bushel out. You know, you try to save what you can.”
Ford | Screenshot
Ford, however, stated that the county receives “a consistent flow of complaints” regarding short-term rentals. “In the last five weeks, we received five, so we’ve received about one per week,” he said.
While the exact number of short-term rentals in Humboldt County is unknown, Ford estimated during the board’s June 6 meeting that there are roughly 1,000 short-term rentals operating in the county, most of which are unpermitted.
Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell also raised similar concerns about how the ordinance would impact rural communities where “housing is now abundant and people are struggling to pay their mortgages.”
Ford acknowledged the difference in the number of short-term rentals in urban versus unincorporated areas of the county. “Rural areas have a different set of needs,” he said.
“There should be some different criteria in the more rural areas versus areas that are really concentrated around [Humboldt] Bay, which are more characteristic of neighborhoods,” he said. “In areas where maybe the economy is struggling a little bit more, maybe some discretion – more discretion – could be allowed to allow there.”
Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo spoke in favor of limiting short-term rentals, noting that she “actually knows several people who have been displaced from units that have been renovated and turned into short-term rentals.”
“Part of that was that there is a cap under the Tenant Protection Act where you can’t raise rents more than ten percent or five percent plus the cost of living change, whichever is lower, over a 12-month period,” Arroyo said. “I do think there are some bad actors who are using the opportunity to renovate and then turn something into a vacation rental to get around that. … I think since we’re seeing some shortage of housing, there’s no financial incentive for that.”
Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson emphasized that the item before the board was an extension to the short-term rental moratorium – “an extension that already exists” – and would not change existing property owners’ ability to operate an existing short-term rental, “It is just to prevent a rush to create new [rentals] while the county is developing a draft ordinance.”
“This was done to address an issue that, in other jurisdictions, where some property owners rush to convert long-term rentals – where people are living – into [short-term rentals] before what they perceive is a deadline for potential grandfathering of existing units,” Wilson continued. “This has, in many cases, caused the displacement of long-term renters, sometimes families with children and we’re … then we will have done our job.”
Fifth District Supervisor and Board Chair Steve Madrone acknowledged Bohn and Bushnell’s concerns about how the ordinance would impact rural residents. “It varies all over the county as to what’s actually going on and in Southern Humboldt, in the middle of where the cannabis industry has been struggling, there are a lot of units available.” However, he said, Fifth District residents are being displaced.
“I can tell you, in the Westhaven area, [short-term rentals are] absolutely displacing many residents,” Madrone said. “I’ve had many calls from people that are very desperate and, once they get displaced, they have a very difficult time finding new housing because the market around the [Humboldt] Bay area and here in the northern Humboldt/Trinidad area, it is pretty saturated in terms of demand.”
Arroyo asked about the timeline for the county to adopt the ordinance. Ford noted that the 22-month and 15-day extension to the temporary moratorium “is kind of the maximum amount of time” the county would need considering staff are tentatively planning to present the draft ordinance to the Board of Supervisors by the end of the year.
“We’re going to go down to Southern Humboldt on Aug. 9 [and] we’re going to have a meeting in the greater Eureka area on Aug. 16,” he said. “We’re looking at having a Planning Commission workshop on Sept. 7 and … that will start public hearings with the Planning Commission. Presumably by the end of this year, it’ll be in front of the Board of Supervisors.”
After quite a bit of back-and-forth discussion, Arroyo made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation “as written.” Wilson seconded the action, adding, “At the very least, these conversations are signaling and advertising that we’re having this conversation and that people should come in and be part of it.”
The board voted 3-2, with Bohn and Bushnell dissenting, to approve staff’s recommendation. But because the item required a four-fifths vote for approval, it did not pass.
Madrone questioned whether the board would be able to pass the affirming motion. “I don’t think you need a four-fifths vote to affirm that you can’t get a four-fifths vote, if that makes sense,” Ford replied.
The board went back and forth on the subject for a bit longer. Eventually, Wilson made a motion to deny the moratorium extension but affirm the board’s intention to maintain June 6, 2023, as the date by which preexisting uses will be established. Any ordinance that the county comes up with will distinguish between short-term rentals that were operating before that date and afterward. Arroyo seconded the motion.
The board voted 3-2, with Bohn and Bushnell dissenting, to approve the convoluted action.
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Other notable bits from Tuesday’s meeting:
- The board received a report from staff regarding the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury’s recent investigation into the county’s Child Welfare Services division. The board reviewed the Grand Jury’s recommendations and discussed what the county has to address some of the issues outlined by the Grand Jury. Staff acknowledged that there were some aspects that the county could not presently address, including staffing issues in the division and budget limitations.
- The board also approved several minor amendments to the county’s solid waste collection franchise agreements with Recology Humboldt County, Recology Eel River and the Humboldt Sanitation Company for Fiscal Year 2023-24.
- The board passed a retirement resolution acknowledging the invaluable work of Anne Holcomb, the recently retired executive director of Food for People.
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