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Supervisor Briggs recommending the Board direct Development Services Department and County Counsel to draft language to be added to the El Dorado County Ordinance Code pertaining to the Vacation Home Rental Ordinance on the West Slope. (Est. Time: 30 Min.)
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Currently there exists numerous vacation rental units on the West Slope of El Dorado County. While it is important that the County continue to encourage and support opportunities that can potentially contribute to the local tourism industry, it is equally important that the County continue to support and protect our county's diverse agricultural industry as well as the established local hotel/motel and Bed & Breakfast businesses and to insure public safety.
It is in the best public good and for the interest of all vacation rental owners, as well as their neighbors, that the County establish within the County Ordinance Code a process that provides for a uniform definition for a vacation rentals on the West Slope; the ability to standardize as well as enforce conditions and requirements insuring public safety while protecting owners, renters and neighbors of a vacation rental; an established mechanism to issue the necessary licenses and permits; and a mechanism to collect the appropriate transient and other related taxes and fees that apply to such operations.
Supervisor Briggs recommends the Board direct Development Services and County Counsel to draft language to be added to the El Dorado County Ordinance Code that will establish a standard definition, application requirements, permit conditions, applicable fees, violations and penalties for a West Slope Vacation Rental Ordinance that duplicates the current Lake Tahoe Vacation Home Rental Ordinance (Ordinance 4826, Title 5, Chapter 5.56 of the El Dorado County Ordinance Code) with the following exceptions:
1) That an application for a vacation rental on the West Slope of El Dorado County be limited to single family homes, 2) That the Development Services Department review the zoning and land use designations of the proposed and surrounding parcels for each West Slope vacation rental application, 3) That applications for proposed vacation rentals with commercial zoning be allowed by-right and applications for proposed vacation rentals within any other zoning designation be required to obtain a Special Use Permit, 4) That every application for a vacation rental on the West Slope include a requirement for review, approval and, if applicable, a Special Use Permit from the Development Services Department prior to the issuance of a vacation rental permit, business license, hotel/motel tax registration and/or any other permit or licensing requirement.
A proposed draft for a West Slope Vacation Rental Ordinance was provided to the Board of Supervisors (Legislative File ID Number: 09-0910, August 4, 2009) as part of the discussion on proposed amendments to the South Lake Tahoe Vacation Rental Ordinance. A copy of this proposed draft is attached; however, it does not address the specific issues included in Supervisor Briggs' recommendation to the Board.
Supervisor Briggs further recommends that the Board direct staff to return with draft language, as provided within his recommendation to the Board, on or before Tuesday, May 25, 2010.