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Short-term rental permit applications lag as Coastal Commission certification delays rollout
Summary
Planning staff said the county has received about 201 short-term rental applications but only 37 approvals so far; certification by the Coastal Commission remains pending and enforcement is complaint-driven, staff said.
Humboldt County planning staff told the Planning Commission on March 6 that they have received roughly 201 applications under the county’s short-term rental program but that approvals remain limited while Coastal Commission certification is outstanding.
Director Ford told commissioners: “We’ve received 201 applications for short term rentals. Of those, 37 have been approved, 2 have been denied, 9 have been withdrawn, and 53 are . . . pending.” He said many applications are in the coastal zone and that the California Coastal Commission had not yet certified the county’s document for that zone, which constrains full implementation. The county’s earlier estimate of total short-term rentals in the county was “around 600, 6 to 700,” Ford said.
Ford said the county’s code enforcement is primarily complaint-based, and staff do not typically perform proactive enforcement. He noted that the cannabis rollout was an exception because of evident illegal grading and other environmental damage. Ford said the county expects to issue a press release when the Coastal Commission acts and that he did not expect certification “much before the end of this calendar year.”
Commissioners asked whether the county would pursue proactive notices where evidence of unpermitted rentals appears; staff said the coastal certification and market conditions likely explain part of the application rate and that the county’s default enforcement approach is complaint-driven.
