SIERRA COUNTY — In 2022, the Sierra County Board of Supervisors passed Ordinance 1117, which regulates short-term rentals such as those listed on services like Airbnb in an effort to improve safety for renters and encourage long-term rentals. Though somewhat controversial, the Board remains supportive of the ordinance, which has significantly decreased the number of vacation rental homes in the area, particularly near Downieville and Sierra City.

Over the last few years, it has become clear that some details in the ordinance text need to be clarified for property owners attempting to acquire a permit. The Planning Department has also struggled to parse the rules, and, as Planning Director Brandon Pangman brought up in a previous board meeting, it would often accommodate homeowners who met the “intent” of the ordinance despite not quite meeting the ordinance’s text.

One crucial revision is that short-term rentals as a portion of a residence will be permitted. The change allows the original intention of Airbnb: homeowners renting out spare rooms in their homes.

Another revision addresses the Planning Department’s issues with short-term rental owners paying property taxes with the specification that all property owners must be current on property taxes before applying for a permit, and the permit can be revoked for failure to pay. Violations of the ordinance have been harshened, going from a fine of not more than $500 to $1,500 for the first offense, $3,000 for the second offense, and $5,000 for further violations.

Finally, fire safety requirements have been clarified. A previously required 20-pound fire extinguisher has been dropped to a 10-pound after feedback that the larger was unwieldy and could not reasonably be used by most people. The placement of those fire extinguishers has also been specified. Additionally, the requirement for two exterior hose bibs has been dropped to one.

Several smaller changes have been made, and the revision can be viewed at https://www.sierracounty.ca.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05162024-820. The Board set a public hearing date of July 2nd, 2024, at 10 a.m. at the Downieville Courthouse, during which the changes will be detailed, followed by an opportunity for comment. Further notice will be posted in the coming weeks.

In other Board news…

Progress on Fire Restrictions Ordinance

At the last Board meeting, the supervisors discussed the draft of a new ordinance that would implement fire restrictions in Sierra County whenever National Forest restrictions went into effect. County fire restrictions have been passed seasonally during extreme fire risk. Still, putting them into effect and later repealing them took weeks, meaning the ordinance would either be implemented too late or repealed long after the fire risk had subsided. The draft brought to the last meeting was seen as a step in the right direction, but there were consistency issues, as detailed in this newspaper’s article covering that meeting.

The revised draft addresses most of the comments previously received. Instead of going into effect when any restriction on the national forest goes into effect, the revised version would only go into effect when more significant restrictions are implemented. The ordinance specifies that the trigger would come only from the forest with the most presence within Sierra County, corresponding to the Tahoe National Forest.

The revision also removes the exemption for inspected organized campgrounds during the restrictions since neither the Forest Service nor the Sierra County Fire Protection District were interested in inspecting campgrounds on private property. The enforcement of restrictions has also been updated, with violations being prosecuted as either an infraction with a $500 fine or a misdemeanor with a fine of $1,000 and up to six months in jail.

Unfortunately, there was still confusion about how exactly the Tahoe National Forest’s restrictions would trigger the ordinance since the language used in the revision did not align with Tahoe’s practices. The Planning Department will again return to the next board meeting, where it will hopefully present a working draft. The process to pass the ordinance then requires another return to the Board for a second reading and, if approved, a 30-day waiting period, putting it into effect in mid-July at the earliest.