Solvang is considering changes to its short-term rental rules as residents and business owners raise concerns about noise, parking, housing availability and the impact on local hotels.
The issue surfaced during city council meetings in August, when residents warned that short-term rentals could disrupt residential neighborhoods.
“But where I live in the county where the ordinance was freer for a year, at one point we had a neighborhood, a neighborhood that’s a block and a half with four [rentals] and one of them was a party house, so I’m not a fan,” one resident said during public comment.
Another speaker urged the city not to allow vacation rentals in residential areas, citing existing frustrations tied to tourism.
“It should not happen in Solvang. We have enough local folks here in town that dislike tourism and dislike our parking and our traffic,” the resident said.
The discussion returned to City Hall in September, with business owners joining the debate and warning that short-term rentals could hurt hotels.
“If you’re running a short-term rental, you’re taking away from our hotel,s and especially if you’re doing it illegally,” one speaker said.
After several presentations and public comments across multiple meetings, the city is now moving forward with a proposed ordinance that would update Solvang’s existing short-term rental rules.
According to Community Development Director Rafael Castillo, the changes are intended to modernize the city’s ordinance and respond to the state’s ongoing housing shortage.
“Considering that California is currently going through a housing shortage, we figured we could take this time now to take a look at our short-term rental ordinance and do some tweaks and modifications to modernize the ordinance since again it was passed in 2016,” Castillo said.
City officials say the proposed changes focus on keeping long-term housing in residential neighborhoods while still allowing tourism to remain concentrated in Solvang’s village area.
“We want people to visit here but in reality, we also want those long-term housing units that are in our neighborhoods to stay just that — long-term housing,” Castillo said.
The proposed ordinance would also strengthen enforcement. Castillo said the city plans to take a more hands-on approach when addressing complaints tied to short-term rentals.
“We’ve established a three strikes and you’re out rule, so essentially if we get three complaints within a year, the city may revoke your short-term rental permit,” Castillo said.
The proposed ordinance has already been recommended for approval by the Planning Commission and is expected to go before the Solvang City Council for final consideration in February.
