Temecula Wine Country, Idyllwild Vacation Rentals: County Weighing In

Get the latest update to this story here.

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The Board of Supervisors is slated Tuesday to consider whether to extend a moratorium on the issuance of new short-term rental permits in the unincorporated Temecula Valley, as well as Idyllwild and the surrounding mountain communities.

The board is expected to face opposition to keeping the moratorium in place until Sept. 9, 2023, which is what the Transportation & Land Management Agency is proposing.

The supervisors approved an urgency ordinance establishing the moratorium last month. However, that was only for a 45-day period. The pause ends this week. The next option is for a 10-month extension.

Supervisor Chuck Washington, whose Third District encompasses the areas in question, said last week that special consideration is required for the locations because they're close to being "inundated" with short-term rental properties. He is seeking customized "carve-out" guidelines for Idyllwild-Pine Cove and the Temecula Valley Wine Country based on the recently approved short-term rental regulatory framework.

"It is important to note that the Planning Department intends to work diligently to complete analysis (of special regulations for the locations) and bring a recommendation to the board quicker than (next) September," according to a TLMA statement posted to the board's agenda.

The TLMA provided the supervisors with a report last Tuesday indicating that many residents in the mountain communities and the Temecula Valley favor restrictions on short-term rental permits, based on informal surveys taken during two community meetings earlier this month.

"The analytics (in the report) are ... very biased, very negative," Thomas DeCarlo, a short-term rental property owner, complained to the board last week. "Don't continue this moratorium. Let this thing see itself through."

Roy Holyfield, another speaker, said a moratorium extension would be "unfair to people who are in limbo" on completing real estate transactions because of it.

TLMA's report showed that the majority of community members who participated in the Temecula Valley survey — 27% — were content with countywide regulations being applied before other actions are taken to specifically address permitting in the Wine Country area. But they were followed closely by a sizable number — 22% — supporting an outright ban on additional permits.

The highest number tracked in the Idyllwild-Pine Cove survey — 33% — signaled a desire for a cap on short-term rentals in the mountain communities. The next closest number — 21% — favored a stipulation that the county consider housing availability in the area before implementing any new regulations.

The board on Oct. 18 approved a series of changes to the county's Short-Term Rental Ordinance, No. 927, which generally applies to all unincorporated communities. If the moratorium is not extended, the overhauled ordinance would apply to the mountain communities and the Temecula Valley.

The new regulatory framework focuses on occupancy limitations, noise controls, parking designations and other health and safety provisions for short-term rental properties. It was in response to increasing problems stemming from unlicensed vacation rentals.

TLMA officials told the board last month that applications for rental certificates had surged over the last 13 months, leading to an average of 54 new certificates being issued every month, a disproportionately high number of them going to property owners in the Idyllwild-Pine Cove area and the Temecula Valley.

"If the increase continues, adverse impacts that have the potential to endanger the health and safety of residents, guests and the very environment and resources that attract visitors to the county will increase," according to a TLMA statement.

Officials noted that a high concentration of short-term rental properties could prove problematic in the Temecula Valley Wine Country, undermining "the character of the community."

Similar concerns were raised regarding the Idyllwild area, where 12% of the 1,100 licensed short-term rentals in unincorporated communities are now located, according to TLMA.

Short-term rentals are defined as residential dwellings leased for a maximum of 30 days and a minimum of two days and one night.