The Corona City Council last week unanimously approved a ban on short-term residential rentals within the city limits, prompting cheers from the audience.
“I’m happy that we’re here today and that we’re moving forward, and I thank the rest of the council for kind of seeing this [through],” Councilmember Wes Speake said before making the motion to approve the ban. “I know a lot of you didn’t have any of these issues in your districts, but like I said, very happy to be here.”
According to Planning and Development Director Joanne Coletta, the ordinance was brought before the council following complaints from residents that included noise and parking issues from short-term renters.
An urgency ordinance banning new permits from being issued went into effect immediately upon council’s adoption. A second urgency ordinance, which also went into effect immediately, allows permitted short-term residential rentals within the city limits to continue operating through the end of the permit period.
“We have a total of 13 that will expire between this month and October 2024,” Coletta said. “And once they expire, they can no longer renew those permits, so it’s just a dwindling down process.”
The regular ordinances for those policies will go into effect 30 days after a second reading by the council.
The council also adopted a resolution updating the city’s penalty schedule for illegally operating a short-term residential rental. Fees for the first violation have gone from $100 to $1,500. The second violation will now cost $3,000, instead of $200, and the third violation will cost $5,000, up from $500.
Coletta said the city would also be working with a third-party company to help track listings on hosting sites.
“The service they provide is good for us, because they will actually give us identification of those addresses and then staff will follow up and do all the written notices and provide the warnings,” she said.
The two residents who spoke on the item spoke in favor of the ban, praising the council’s response to community needs.
“This is an example of how city government is supposed to work,” Don Fuller, Corona resident, said. “You have some citizens who have an issue, they come, they bring it before the city council, city council goes to work on it, and you do the right thing. That’s a perfect example of how participatory democracy is supposed to work.”
A video of the meeting can be found here on the city’s website.
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