Page 8 - Sonoma County Gazette - January 2018

VRBO-VREZ cont’d from page 7
Gorin’s district was particularly hard hit.
“The first district is a stopping point on the way to Napa and a big part of the economy of the Sonoma Valley is agro-tourism and the wine industry,” she said. “It’s the people with lower wage jobs having difficulty: vineyard workers, landscapers, and hospitality staff.”
Vacation Rental Exclusion Zones (VREZ)
This is not Gorin’s first attempt to limit vacation rentals in parts of the county most affected by them, as she picked up the mantel of a process that began in April, 2009 when a previous board considered the long-term effects of vacation rentals on communities.
The Second and Third districts, Petaluma and central Santa Rosa, for the most part, have very few vacation rentals—Third District Supervisor Shirlee Zane joked about having doubled to two at the Dec. 5 meeting and the Second has a mere handful—so the First, Fourth and Fifth were the main targets of subsequent studies.
After forming an ad hoc committee to study policy options, in November 2010 the board adopted a vacation rental ordinance that went through an amendment process in 2014 that included “a robust public outreach program.”
As a result of those efforts, in 2016 the board created a number of “exclusion zones,” where applications for vacation rental permits were not allowed.
The lion’s share of those VREZ parcels—6,204 in 10 zones—are located in the First District from Boyes Hot Springs to Kenwood, while the Fourth District held just three: Fitch Mountain, Palomino Lakes and The Vineyards.
In the end, the First was the only district that adopted the changes meant to “preserve existing housing stock, reduce fire danger, and improve neighborhood compatibility.”
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In James Gore’s Fourth District, two of the zones had homeowners’ associations with vacation rental policies in place and Fitch Mountain property owners were steadfastly against it, citing property rights.
8 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 1/18
VRBO-VREZ cont’d on page 10
“It’s (a) multi-faceted (issue) and a good example of something different in every district,” Gore said in an interview in 2017. “On Fitch, it came down to ownership rights.”
He said that about 19 percent of Fitch Mountain properties are vacation rentals, and many owners bought property there with the intention of using them as rentals. Some even incorporate it into business plans to get loans to purchase properties.
“Susan was interested in banning R1 (residential rentals) in all of Sonoma County,” Gore said. “I have not come to a final conclusion but I’m looking for a solution to satisfy (the community). Some issues are countywide, but this is something that is a district-specific issue.”
And while he was on favor of the VREZ on Fitch Mountain, he acceded to the desires of his constituents there.