Fountain Valley to take a look at short-term rentals

With its new chain of command established earlier this month, the Fountain Valley City Council will return its attention to community issues when it convenes Tuesday.

New Mayor Patrick Harper and the rest of the five-person governing body are set to consider the future of short-term rentals in the city.

Two study sessions preceding this meeting have led to the council requesting that city staff return with options outlining how the city would either allow for short-term rentals with some regulation or outlaw them in the Fountain Valley municipal code.

A staff report notes a substantial rise in the popularity of short-term rentals, attributing that increase to websites such as AirBNB, VRBO and Booking.com. The number of short-term rentals in Fountain Valley have multiplied by a factor of 15 since 2011.

The report defines a short-term rental as a residential property, including a room within a house, that is available for rent for less than 30 days. There are roughly 175 such properties listed within Fountain Valley, city officials said.

Fountain Valley does not address short-term rentals in its municipal code, but the city has taken the position that the properties operating as such are doing so illegally because it is not expressly permitted.

In its report, city staff considers the benefits and drawbacks of allowing short-term rentals, and a list is included of the stances taken on short-term rentals by other Orange County cities.

Huntington Beach, for example, allows room rentals only, except in the Sunset Beach area. Out of nine Orange County cities listed that allow for short-term rentals in some capacity, only Buena Park and Huntington Beach require an on-site operator.

Per the staff report, short-term rentals are prohibited in Brea, Garden Grove, Irvine, Santa Ana, Tustin, Villa Park and Yorba Linda.

Allowing for short-term rentals would provide another source of income for homeowners. The city would be able to regulate those operations, require registration and licensing, and collect transient occupancy tax if the council chose to permit short-term rentals.

Concerns about moving ahead with short-term rentals include the possibility that property values would decline and there could be nuisances in neighborhoods such as noise and parking issues.

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