Paso Robles appoints panel to update vacation rental policies

Faced with an exponential growth in short-term vacation rentals in Paso Robles, the City Council will appoint an advisory panel to make recommendations about how the city’s policies should be updated.

The council’s decision Tuesday to appoint the panel was prompted by the growing popularity of short-term rental websites such as Airbnb and VRBO, which has caused the number of such rentals to grow to an estimated 200 to 300 units just in Paso Robles. However, only about 60 of those have city business licenses and pay transient occupancy taxes.

“The need to manage the impacts on neighborhoods and to create a level playing field among all operators has come to the forefront,” said Assistant City Manager Meg Williamson.

The panel will be made up of both vacation rental operators and neighborhood residents. Its mission will be to work with city staff to find solutions to some of the issues related to short-term rentals — particularly how to balance the need to protect residential neighborhoods from potential noise and safety issues while promoting tourism and economic development.

“The work of the advisory panel is expected to last approximately four months, at which time they will make policy recommendations to the City Council for their consideration,” Williamson said.

The council vote was 4-0, with Councilman Steve Gregory recusing himself because he owns vacation rental property in the city.

Vacation rentals are defined as homes or individual rooms in homes that are rented for less than 30 consecutive days.

Transient occupancy taxes, also called bed taxes, from such businesses are a common source of revenue for most local governments. In recent years, a number of cities, including San Luis Obispo and Arroyo Grande, have approved ordinances allowing vacation rentals with certain regulations.

Paso Robles’ bed tax is 10 percent of the rent charged by the operator. City planners estimate that the city could generate an additional $330,000 in revenues if 200 unlicensed short-term rentals were licensed.

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Paso Robles appoints panel to update vacation rental policies."