Calistoga council directs code updates, explores compliance contractors and software to enforce short‑term rental ban

The Calistoga City Council on June 24 directed staff to update the municipal code to tighten enforcement of the city’s existing prohibition on short‑term residential rentals and to prepare procurement options to identify an enforcement pathway.

Deputy City Manager Sean Stepp told the council that short‑term rentals are currently prohibited in Calistoga but remain active in the community. He recommended three primary steps: clarify and expand short‑term rental definitions in the municipal code, add explicit fines for violations, and require hosting platforms to report active listings within city limits. Stepp also described two enforcement approaches: purchase of monitoring software (estimated about $15,000 per year plus staff time) or contracting with a compliance firm (estimated $15,000–$25,000 per year) that would perform searches, verification and follow‑up.

The code changes Stepp outlined would, among other…