Short-term rentals might find time running out

The Laguna Beach City Council will discuss relegating short-term lodging to certain sections of the city when it meets Tuesday.

The council will consider recommendations from the Planning Commission that include prohibiting short-term rentals in all residential zones while adding more commercial zones where the practice would be allowed, according to a news release.

In November, the council indicated that it favored banning short-term rentals in most residential areas. But commissioners at their March 16 meeting recommended the practice be off-limits in all residential zones “because it will further deplete a limited supply of [long-term] rental housing in Laguna Beach,” according to a summary of the meeting.

Short-term lodging has garnered increased scrutiny in Laguna and other Southern California cities with the proliferation of online websites like Airbnb that list available rooms for rent for a period of 30 days or less.

Residents have complained that tenants wreak havoc with loud music and parties and cause parking congestion.

Short-term lodging operators say the practice gives renters, who otherwise could not afford pricier hotel rates, a place to stay while enjoying the city and provides needed income for property owners who might otherwise be forced to sell.

Commissioners also recommended that owners with existing permits be allowed to continue renting space to short-term tenants, though they suggested that home sharing, in which the owner lives in the house with paying guests, be prohibited in residential zones.

At one time the council thought that owners living on a site would be a way to quell neighborhood problems related to tenants, but commissioners, citing the experiences of San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Ojai, said enforcement under that kind of arrangement has been difficult.

“In my neighborhood we have people who are running a house with a two-car driveway, two cars there and five cars on the street,” Planning Commissioner Sue Kempf said during the March meeting. “It’s a rotating group of people. It’s disconcerting for the neighbors.”

Ann Larson, assistant community development director, reported at the March meeting that the city had 36 legally registered short-term-lodging permits.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 505 Forest Ave.