San Clemente : Bed and Breakfast Inn Issue on Council Agenda

According to assistant city planner Carlene Baskevitch, “There are a lot of people who are interested in starting one and are just waiting for the ordinance criteria.”

The issue is bed and breakfast inns, and although many residents seek to open the businesses in their homes, some neighbors are just as interested in preventing them.

The issue, sent back to the Planning Commission for more study last month, comes before the City Council tonight.

The Planning Commission’s recommendation is to allow such businesses only in the older, west-of-the-freeway residential and commercial/apartment sections, no closer together than 300 feet and only in “historically significant structures.”

The city has a list of the latter--more than 200 buildings, mostly homes, which were declared significant because of their “special historical, cultural or architectural interest.”

The commission also recommends that every bed and breakfast business have a use permit. City planners recommend that establishments holding fewer than six guests be exempt from that requirement.

Some residents have argued that bed and breakfast businesses are an invasion of the residential zone, and are expected to protest at tonight’s 6 p.m. meeting.