Though he shared Candace Tinkler’s sentiments concerning vacation rentals, Crescent City Councilman Steve Shamblin couldn’t convince his colleagues that ensuring “everyone’s paying their fair share” was common sense.

Shamblin, and Tinkler, the city’s mayor pro tem, argued for an ordinance that would capture the addresses of Airbnbs, VRBOs and other short-term rentals operating within city limits. But after the city manager and finance director on Tuesday concluded that short-term rentals make up about 2.8% of Crescent City’s overall housing stock, councilors Jason Greenough and Ray Altman said enacting stronger regulations was a waste of time.

“The city should mind its own business and leave property owners alone,” Altman said, repeating a statement he made about two months ago. “Staff should be working on stuff that’s way more important.”

Greenough and Altman had argued for putting the discussion to bed on July 6. But because Shamblin, who had asked for the information concerning vacation rentals, was absent, Mayor Isaiah Wright asked staff to make sure everyone operating an STR were paying the same taxes to the city as hotels and motels.

Crescent City currently lacks an ordinance specifically governing vacation rentals, according to a staff report from Finance Director Linda Leaver, Contract Planner Ethan Lawton and City Attorney Martha Rice.The City Council was unable to reach a consensus Tuesday on whether or not there should be a specific short-term rental ordinance. 

That doesn’t mean vacation rentals are unregulated. According to the city’s staff report, they’re subject to zoning regulations, business license requirements and must comply with a “Bed and Breakfast Establishments” ordinance. Vacation rental owners are also assessed the same 10% transiency occupancy tax as other lodging facilities, according to the staff report.

There are 53, maybe 54, vacation rentals within the city limits, City Manager Eric Wier told councilors on Tuesday. However, he noted that determining the exact number was difficult since many may search Airbnb, VRBO or other online platforms by the 95531 zip code which encompasses more area than the city itself.

Of the 981 single-family homes within Crescent City’s boundaries, 35 are operating as vacation rentals, Wier said. Of the 462 “duplexes to a quad-plex,” 18 were operating as short-term rentals. There weren’t any vacation rentals associated with the larger complexes within the city, he said.

Wier said the percentage of single-family homes being used as short-term rentals within the city was 3.6% while 3.9% of the duplexes-through-quadplexes were vacation rentals. Most are in the Pebble Beach Drive area.

When researching how other jurisdictions treat vacation rentals, Wier said they typically begin regulating them when they make up 5% of their overall housing stock.

“That doesn’t mean that’s what the Council needs to do and it does vary,” he said. “But per our research, that’s been that standard that has been used.”

In the two months since the City Council began discussing short-term rental regulations, Leaver said staff found one owner who hadn’t registered with the city. They’re in the process of filling out their paperwork and sending in a payment, she said.

“It did take many hours of research to find one,” Leaver said, adding that staff could continue to track short-term rentals in-house.

Other options included passing an ordinance that would enable Crescent City to obtain information from Airbnb, VRBO and other vacation rental platforms. The city could also hire a third-party company, RentalScape or iWorQ, that could search for unregistered rentals, manage registration and compliance, auditing as well as TOT collection, according to the staff report.

Leaver said the costs for those services range from $4,500 to more than $20,000 a year. 

“If we want to pursue getting an agreement with one of these companies, I cannot guarantee that we would recover that cost by finding more properties to register because we don’t know how many are out there, if there are any,” Leaver said. “And if there are, we don’t know how much revenue would be brought in.”

Tinkler argued for passing an ordinance that requires vacation rental owners to share their address with the city. She also wanted the Council to consider setting a 5% cap on the percentage of vacation rentals against the city’s overall housing stock.

“I would like us to be proactive and look for solutions before we have a crisis and not wait until the horses are out of the barn,” Tinkler said. “I strongly feel that we should set up reasonable standards now while there’s still time. It would be more fair to people who are looking to purchase a home if they knew that ahead of time.”

Leaver, however, said she didn’t think that the number of short-term rentals has increased that much over the years. The city’s planning consultant looked back on the past five years and found that the city had an average of 10 new applications per year, but many were for a change or ownership not for a new property, she said.

Tinkler’s proposal to cap short-term rentals at 5% of the city’s housing stock didn’t go over well with most members of the public. City resident Roger Gitlin, who is running against Shamblin for a seat on the Council, said he felt the discussion was premature.

Mark Bower, who lives outside the city limits, echoed Altman in saying that considering stronger regulations for vacation rentals was a waste of time.

“Has anybody bought any gas here lately?” Bower asked. “These people are coming to our community to spend money, and they spend a lot of money here. I just had clients that just left, they went to our local restaurants, they hiked our trails, they bought gas at our gas stations. Limiting this, well, you will… they’ll limit themselves because, guess what, with the gas prices, it’s not affordable. These people really got to want to come here.”

Lori Collins, echoed Bower’s sentiment that regulating vacation rentals was a waste of time. She noted that Airbnb owners are required to remit their TOT to the local government or they receive a fine from the county.

“Besides paying property tax, we’re helping the community by paying our TOT and we’re definitely under the amount that is of concern — 1100 vs. 53,” Collins said, comparing the overall number of housing units in the city to the number of vacation rentals. “It’s America. It’s our property. It’s a way to make some money and help people and they do spend a lot of money when they come.”