Planning Commission recommends citywide ban on short-term rentals to City Council

The Planning Commission on Dec. 3 recommended that City Council adopt a zoning text amendment to prohibit short-term rentals citywide. Staff presented the draft ordinance (Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment No. 39 / Resolution PC2536), reviewed neighboring-city approaches, and summarized reasons the City Council directed staff to draft an outright prohibition.

Staff told commissioners that short-term rentals (rentals under 30 consecutive days) raise enforcement issues—noise, parking and litter—and that neighboring cities surveyed generally prohibit short-term rentals in their residential zones. The staff presentation noted an existing express prohibition for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) under state law and proposed repeating the prohibition in multiple zone chapters for discoverability and clarity.

Commissioners asked whether any locations would be exempt (staff said no) and why the language appears in multiple chapters (staff: to make the rule easier to find). No members of the public spoke either for or against the ordinance at the planning-commission hearing. The commission moved and passed a recommendation to council with a unanimous roll call.

The recommendation directs City Council to consider adopting ordinance language that would add multiple subsections to Title 17 of the municipal code to prohibit short-term housing rentals in residential zones and in specified commercial and manufacturing zones when required by state law or when properties are legal nonconforming residential uses within commercial zones.