Some folks love them, others despise them, and Cayucos residents will soon have a chance to give their opinions about short-term rentals, aka vacation rentals or VRs for short
The Cayucos Citizens Advisory Council (CCAC) is hosting a town hall meeting to discuss VRs in town and learn about the County rules under which they are permitted to operate in residential neighborhoods.
The town hall is set for 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Sept. 26 at the Cayucos School Gym, 3901 Cayucos Dr.
According to an event flyer the CCAC put out, “We invite your input as we share current information/pros and cons. Speakers include County staffer charged with enforcement and local folks who own and manage vacation rentals.”
The flyer lists some potential questions that residents might have:
• How do vacation rentals affect our community?
• Are there too many vacation rentalsin Cayucos?
• What’s the difference between a vacation rental and a homestay?
• What are the requirements for a vacation rental permit?
• Are there regulations for parking, noise, etc.?
• What are the fines for operating without a permit?
• Have you been notified of a new vacation rental near you?
• How are violations enforced?
• How do I report a violation?
The meeting is free and open to all residents. According to CCAC the results from the meeting “will be utilized in determining the effectiveness of current regulation and whether any change is needed. Meeting will be recorded.”
The CCAC is an all-volunteer advisory board that airs the concerns of the community primarily with regards to land use issues and advises the Dist. 2 County Supervisor of concerns in the community.
They review development plans and recommend possible changes and determine support or opposition among the members. Though strictly advisory in nature, such boards exist in all of the unincorporated communities under the County’s jurisdiction.
Vacation rentals are a relatively new phenomenon but one that has sky-rocketed in popularity over the past 15 or so years.
The concept in general is someone buys a second home in a desirable location like Cayucos and instead of living in it, they rent it out to vacationers for relatively short terms, usually a weekend to as long as a week to a month.
Many of them are within residential neighborhoods, essentially becoming a lodging business in a residential zoned area, hence the need for special permits and regulations. There is a lot of tax money in play.
The County and incorporated cities require VR owners to collect Transient Occupancy Taxes or bed taxes based on the cost of a night’s stay (9% in County areas, and 10% in Morro Bay), which go directly into the County and City general funds.
They must also collect business improvement district assessments (2% in the County and 3% in Morro Bay), which fund special Tourism Business Improvement Districts or TBIDs, used for tourism promotions.
The County splits these monies using half to promote the unincorporated towns together, and half going back to an advisory board in each community to be spent on special events and promoting the individual communities.
There is also a 2.5% special tax that goes into a Tourism Marketing District (TMD), a promotional effort that promotes the County as a whole.
All lodging businesses within SLO County collect this TMD tax that is managed by a contractor, dba Visit SLO Cal.
These tourism taxes are applied to motels, hotels, B&Bs, and vacation rentals.
