Study Will Look at Vacation Rentals
By Andrew Edwards, San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.
Feb. 14–BIG BEAR LAKE — City leaders want to study how proposed regulations on vacation rentals will affect the economy here before they take action on the issue.
The City Council voted for the study Monday, city spokeswoman Cheri Haggerty said. The council could have adopted the vacation-rental regulations outright or let the city’s voters make the decision next year.
The council authorized spending as much as $25,000 on the study, which will be completed by an outside consultant “to help with the impartiality of the report as much as possible,” Haggerty said.
The analysis must be completed by March 12, when the council will take up the issue again.
More than 100 people attended Monday night’s council meeting, Haggerty said.
Missing from the crowd, however, was Jim McLean, one of the primary supporters of a tougher vacation rental ordinance.
McLean, who is recovering from a triple- bypass operation he underwent in December, said he “didn’t go to the meeting on doctor’s orders.”
McLean and his wife, Barbara, own Apples Bed & Breakfast and collected signatures in support of the proposed ordinance.
The McLeans support the ordinance’s requirement that all vacation rentals obtain a conditional-use permit, a process that involves public hearings and potentially hefty fees. The minimum cost to obtain such a permit in Big Bear Lake is about $1,900.
The consultant hired to study the proposed ordinance would assess how it would affect Big Bear Lake’s fiscal situation, housing supply, business climate and funding for infrastructure and fire protection, among other issues.
The McLeans have said that people who let vacationers stay in private homes should pay the same fees and play by the same rules as traditional lodging businesses. Members of the city’s vacation-rental industry, however, have derided the effort to craft new rules as a political ploy to damage their businesses.
“We who are in the business of renting out vacation rentals believe the measure would eliminate vacation rentals,” said Jane Tomchik, co-owner of Big Bear Management.
Tomchik said she welcomes the study because she expects the findings will show that vacation rentals are a key part of Big Bear Lake’s economy.
Regardless of the study’s findings, Jim McLean said, he expects the matter will be sent to voters. Should the council take that option, voters would have their say in the November 2008 general election.
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