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Conduct a study session to consider and obtain public testimony on a Vacation House Rental land use for the unincorporated area of Solano County and direct staff to prepare draft amendments to the County's Zoning Regulations that would either allow, regulate, or prohibit Vacation House Rentals
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BACKGROUND
Last year the Planning Commission held three meetings in which short-term rental of houses and rooms for periods of less than 30 days were discussed. Then, as now, the use of a dwelling unit as a Vacation House Rental (whole house rental) rather than as a residence is a land use that is implicitly not authorized or addressed by Chapter 28 (Zoning Regulations) of the Solano County Code. The discussion included consideration of regulations developed by staff to assure that this use would be compatible with the residential character of the neighborhoods. Public testimony on the proposed regulations was generally negative and ranged from over regulation of a use to proposing regulations for a use that are unnecessary. At the third meeting, Commission decided to end the discussion and staff withdrew the item from further consideration at the time. As a result, Vacation House Rental remain a land use that is implicitly not authorized by Chapter 28, but is a land use that currently is being conducted on a number of properties in the unincorporated area.
DISCUSSION
Staff has since conducted additional research addressing the Vacation House Rental land use and, in consideration of this information, is providing several options for consideration by the Commission.
Airbnb and VRBO Rentals
Airbnb and VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) are two well-known short term/vacation rental listing sites. Research by staff shows that there are approximately 65 unincorporated Solano County properties currently listed on Airbnb or VRBO. These are estimates due to the listing sites limited disclosure of identifying information. There may be more rentals in the unincorpo...
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