By Eric Heinz
During a Dec. 3 study session to examine the ongoing controversies surrounding vacation rental homes in San Clemente, the city’s Planning Commission and staff looked at information from neighboring and similar cities in order to move forward with possible zoning and regulation of the lodging businesses.
About 40 people attended the study session.
“So far we’re doing these Planning Commission study sessions that are a chance for the commission and staff to identify outstanding questions and discuss topics,” Associate City Planner Adam Atamian said. “There’s no decisions being made and it’s not a public hearing. Typically, we don’t get a lot of public input at the study sessions, but in this case … we had a lot of interested parties, and there was a different mix of people.”
In the first study session, Atamian said there were a lot of questions regarding how to regulate the operation of vacation homes. A list of similar cities’ regulations were juxtaposed to reflect their laws.
“Two aspects are existing Transient Occupancy Tax code and the zoning standards. That section will eventually be revised,” Atamian said. “The only thing the zoning aspects will address are development standards and permitting requirements based on zoning regulations.”
California Coastal Commission compliance, where applicable, is another factor the city will examine, he said.
Atamian said there will be a public hearing sometime in early 2016 to address the issues.
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