Atascadero planning panel backs short-term rental rules, asks council to revisit owner-occupancy policy

ATASCADERO, Calif. — The Planning Commission on Aug. 19 voted to recommend that the City Council adopt a text amendment to Title 9 formalizing short‑term rental (STR) rules, including a requirement that STR properties provide a minimum of two on‑site parking spaces and a direction that staff report back with additional information on owner‑occupancy rules and multifamily allowances.

The commission’s recommendation follows a staff presentation of draft ordinance language for Project ZCH240059 and a two‑hour public hearing with more than a dozen residents, property managers and short‑term rental operators offering comments. Community Development Planner Eric Gomez summarized the draft and said a “short term rental is a rental of a dwelling … for a period of 30 calendar days or less.” Gomez said the draft adds a permit process, an initial safety inspection and annual renewals backed by an owner affidavit rather than yearly inspections.

Why it matters: the change would put standards now handled by internal policy into the municipal code, create an enforcement path and generate fee revenue to cover monitoring and inspections. Staff told commissioners the city has 132 approved short‑term rental business licenses and that roughly 100 of those remitted transient‑occupancy tax (TOT) in the most recent quarter. The draft ordinance also proposes limits that differ by zone: 25 percent of units in multifamily developments and…