1. Receive information and provide direction to staff on regulation of short term rentals in the City of Rocklin; or

    

2. Introduce an Ordinance, waive further reading and read by title only, an Ordinance Adding Chapter 5.22 of the Rocklin Municipal Code regarding Short Term Rentals.

In the past few months, there have been several incidents of violence at short term rentals in the greater Sacramento area, including a shooting at a short term rental in the City of Rocklin in early June 2019. In response, the Rocklin City Council directed staff to identify options to regulate short term rentals in an effort to avoid further similar incidents.

After reviewing and considering regulations from other jurisdictions, staff drafted a short term rental ordinance for Council consideration. The draft ordinance requires persons operating short term rentals to obtain a permit from the City, provides rules for the issuance of the permits, and establishes operational restrictions on short term rentals. Highlights of the ordinance include:

• All short-term rentals must be located on the same parcel as the permittee’s primary residence, and may only be rented for 182 days per year;

• The permittee or designated secondary contact must be able to be onsite and respond to any complaints within 30 minutes;

• Lodging is limited to six people, or two people per number of bedrooms, whichever is greater, and guests in excess of that limit are not allowed after 10 p.m.

• The permittee may not rent both a dwelling unit and an accessory dwelling unit on the same parcel;

• The permittee may not rent to a person under the age of 21, and the person renting the property must also be staying at the property; and

• The permittee cannot allow conferences, weddings, fundraisers or similar gatherings at the short-term rental, or any special event that would otherwise require a city permit.

The draft ordinance provides for a short-term rental permit fee, to be established at a later date. It allows the City to suspend, revoke, or condition a short term rental permit, and it provides that violations of the ordinance may be charged as an administrative citation, misdemeanor, or infraction.

In addition to the draft short-term rental ordinance, persons renting a dwelling to another person or entity for 30 days or less in the City of Rocklin are also required to collect a transient occupancy tax (“TOT”) of eight percent of the rent, and must remit the tax to the City. (RMC Chapter 5.24) However, the City’s register of short-term rentals is not up to date, and the TOT has not been actively enforced. To assist with enforcement, staff anticipates entering into an agreement with a third party vendor to enforce the ordinance and assist with collection of the TOT.

The cost for retaining a vendor to assist with short term rental identification, TOT collection and compliance, is estimated to be $10,000 annually. The City’s Department of Finance has funding available for this service. A short term rental permit fee will be recommended for Council consideration in the future, to off-set expenses associated with administering the program.