Sonoma County Gazette 6-20

JUNE 2020
Vacation
Rentals Rock & a Hard Place
Beach time, summer
camping, flights to
far-flung locales...
By Elise VanDyne
And yet...what will this year’s
Memorial weekend at times felt like the burst of a fire hydrant – with the build-up of Stay-at-Home pressures letting out with a sudden influx of people onto the sidewalks and beaches across Sonoma County towns.
By Vesta Copestakes
The morning I go to press with
summer look like?
this issue of the Gazette, our Board of Supervisors will be discussing potential changes to the Vacation Rental Rules and Regulations.
Some communities have establised VRBO Exclusion Zones to keep housing and their neighborhoods protected from commercial use
Many people and businesses were doing a great job, with masks in place, social-distancing, hand-sanitizing, and respectful practices all around.
of resiential homes, while others have tried and failed to to establish Exclusion Zones. It’s a complicated process, requires entire neighborhood agreement, and costs fees many cannot afford.
Unfortunately there are always some that will break the social compact we make to care for each other and who crowd onto beaches and into stores, ignoring well-defined steps needed to keep us all safe, and despite the added enforcement support from CHP, Parks Rangers, and law enforcement.
In Sonoma and Marin Counties, some residential neighborhoods have more VRBOs than residents, causing not only a shortage of housing,
but also a shortage of people who contribute to their hometowns, especially in unincorporated areas where there are few local services and volunteers maintain home.
This adds to the pressures already in place as so many struggle with challenges around fundamental needs for income, shelter, food, business, education.
VRBOs cont’d on page 10
SUMMER cont’d on page 13
In COVID-19 What’s in Sonoma Landowners
Film Venues get Creative to Stay in Business ~ 48
Let’s not Forget Foster Youth ~ 8
Your Picnic Basket ? ~ 14
Coastal Trail ~ 20
KEY to Fish Recovery ~ 22
Pages 12 ~ 21
Home Towns: 30-43 CALENDAR of What You CAN Do!: pgs 48 - 63