The county is stumbling on efforts to enact a pilot ordinance that would require signs to be posted outside short-term rentals. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors, citing the need to review public comments, consider alternatives and make revisions to the draft rule, voted to postpone any decision on the rule to an unspecified future date.
Short-term rental signs, which are standard issue in counties such as Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo, would be Marin’s first countywide short-term rental policy beyond the transient occupancy tax that is charged to renters for stays under 30 days. They were one of the possible steps outlined in a county white paper commissioned last May in response to public concern over the surge in short-term rentals.
The draft ordinance, which would enact the rule for one year, was meant to have a first reading on Tuesday. It would require the owners of short-term rentals to post a sign in front of a rental, at a height of three to five feet, and include the name of the property owner, the name and phone number of a local contact person, the street address, the business license number and the transient occupancy tax certificate number.
The ordinance would also require someone to physically respond to any complaint about the condition or operation of the rental or the conduct of the occupants, and to take any necessary action to resolve the complaint in a timely manner. Supervisor Dennis Rodoni had previously characterized it as a strategy for neighborhoods to self-regulate.
But short-term rental owners have come out strongly opposed to the idea. Inverness resident Rachel Dinno, who operates a short-term rental, wrote that signs would “visually destroy the neighborhood aesthetic of our rural community” and “invite property damage and create neighborhood security issues.”
Hitting on a common argument, she urged supervisors to “study the economic benefits that visitors, especially overnight visitors, have on our local community before creating any measure that will deter” visitation to the Point Reyes National Seashore and the surrounding communities.
As an alternative, Ms. Dinno suggested a mailing list that would share contact information with neighbors and recommended limiting signage requirements to Bolinas and Stinson Beach, which she said bore the brunt of complaints.
Short-term rental operator Sherry Hirsch, of Bolinas, was equally opposed to signage in her letter to supervisors. “How a sign will increase compliance is a mystery to me,” she wrote. “As I suggested, if folks want to know if a house is being used as a short term rental the Department of Finance should publish its payment rolls online.”
Ms. Hirsch equated the proposed sign rule to “harassment of people who are complying with the [transient occupancy tax]” and said her family would quit the business as soon as was feasible if the rule were passed.
Another letter echoed the fear of harassment, stating that public exposure of names and contact information associated with rentals “would literally increase risk for harm” and make the economic survival strategy of short-term rentals “unattainable.”
Though a handful of people on Tuesday spoke against short-term rentals in general—including in regard to their contribution to the housing crisis and the emptying out of neighborhoods, especially on the coast—commentators did not advocate specifically for signs as a preferred strategy.
County planning manager Jeremy Tejirian, who recommended the board’s delay at the hearing, said there were already laws that regulate neighborhood conflicts, including unnecessary noise after 11 p.m., parking, emergency access, proper garbage disposal and more, and that the county could rely on those while it hammered out the best way to tackle short-term rentals.
“We need to take a step back,” he said. “We’ve started a discussion, but we aren’t quite there.”