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CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING to consider an ordinance (ZT-18-03) amending Chapter 28 of the Solano County Code to define the short-term rental of a dwelling as a “vacation house rental” and to authorize such land use, subject to an administrative or minor use permit, within the Agricultural, Rural Residential and Watershed Zoning Districts
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RECOMMENDATION:
The Planning Division of the Department of Resource Management recommends that the Planning Commission conduct a public hearing to consider an ordinance (Ordinance 1) addressing Vacation House Rentals in the unincorporated area of the county.
DISCUSSION:
At the June 21st meeting of the Planning Commission, staff presented two ordinances for the Commission’s consideration regarding vacation house rentals. Ordinance 1 grouped vacation house rentals into two categories - hosted and unhosted, and proposed general regulations along with specific regulations for each. Ordinance 2 collapsed the general and specific regulations contained in Ordinance 1 and placed them under the general heading of requirements.
The application submittal process for a hosted rental would be an Administrative permit while the unhosted rental would be a minor use permit. A hosted rental application process would involve the submittal of an administrative permit that the Director of Resource Management shall administratively approve if all standards and requirements of Chapter 28 and elsewhere in the Code are satisfied. The unhosted rental application process would involve the submittal of a minor use permit which requires a public hearing before the Zoning Administrator.
The application process for permits under Ordinance 2 would involve the submittal of an administrative permit that the Director of Resource Management shall administratively approve if all standards and requirements of Chapter 28 and elsewhere in the Code are satisfied.
Following a discussion period, the commission provided staff with comments which were incorporated into the Ordinance 1. Several commissioners indicated that they were comfortable with Ordinance 1 with the incorporation of stated comments, while one commissioner felt that hosted only vacation house rentals are reasonable since the residential character of the neighborhood is retained
Changes to Ordinance 1 include: reducing the quiet time hours from 8 pm to 10 am to 10 pm to 8 am which is the time period approved for past projects; clarifying that special events include weddings, parties and similar events; prohibiting outdoor amplified sound; clarifying that repair work for unhosted rentals will take longer than the initial 45-minute response time; requiring vacation rentals to meet building and fire codes and to submit to a fire inspection prior to a rental; and elimination of the ATC-NC (Agriculture Tourist Center-North Connector from consideration due to the potential intensity of the commercial uses anticipated for the property and the proximity to Interstate 80. Although there was testimony requesting that the Watershed zone (W-160) be considered to include vacation house rentals, staff believes the constraints posed by the topography, as mentioned in the previous memo, is not conducive for this land use. Should the Commission choose the hosted only option then the language in the ordinance addressing unhosted vacation rentals will be deleted.
The ordinance addresses whole house rentals only. Staff will be addressing individual room and portions of a house later this year since changes to existing residential definitions are needed.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The Zone Text Amendment is exempt from further environmental review under the General Rule Exemption of Section 15060(c)(2) of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations because the project will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
Attachments:
A - Ordinance showing changes
B - Public comments received