LONG BEACH — City councilors last week voted to amend Long Beach’s zoning code, with many changes aimed at overhauling how vacation rentals are regulated within city limits.

The unanimous vote by the council at its Nov. 21 meeting put an end to a months-long process and multiple iterations of proposed changes to the city’s zoning code, which is updated by the council on an annual basis.

The path to updating Long Beach’s vacation rental rules began in June, when city staff said they had been inundated with new permit requests. They suggested that the council place a moratorium on allowing new vacation rentals, to give them time to make revisions about how the rentals are regulated by the city.

The council obliged, and in September they were presented with a slate of proposed revisions to the city code. Following several rounds of feedback from councilors and members of the public alike in the past couple of months, the ordinance that would adopt the latest proposed changes were back in front of the council for consideration again at last week’s meeting.

This time around, the councilors pulled the trigger. Despite some discussion about punting on adopting the ordinance until a future meeting — which some councilors were firmly against — the council ultimately voted to approve the zoning changes in what was a unanimous vote.

With the new revisions, vacation rentals remain prohibited in most residential zones. However, rentals in the two residential zones where they continue to be allowed as a conditional use — two-family residential restricted (R2R) and shoreline multi-family residential (S2) — must be at least 200 feet away from all other permitted vacation rentals, as measured from all property lines.

One of the biggest points of contention between the city and vacation rental owners throughout the process was the city’s proposal to require each vacation rental to be fenced. Long Beach officials said a fenced yard would keep visiting pets and small children from wandering away, or onto another property, while rental owners argued that erecting a fence around a property would be no small cost and that it would be unfair to require that of vacation rentals but not other properties.

“I don’t think enough people are around to build [that many fences]” said Robbie Wright, owner of Bloomer Estates Vacation Rentals, adding that he believed a better approach would be for the city to reserve the right for a vacation rental property to be fenced. “I think it’s a simple thing to say that if the city has problems with you and having dogs and kids running around, we may require you to put up a fence. That could be on an as-needed basis.”

In the end, the council voted to move ahead with the fence requirement, but clarified that there needed to be a fenced area around the home or structure in question, and not the entirety of the property itself.

Additional rulesThe updated zoning code included a host of additions and changes to the city’s vacation rental regulations, such as mandatory inspections and detailing what must be included in property management plans.

Some of the new or revised requirements include:

• For residentially zoned properties that contain both a residential dwelling and an accessory dwelling unit, only one of the structures may be licensed as a vacation rental.
• Each rental must have one off-street parking space for each bedroom unit, with a minimum of two off-street spaces required.
• The exterior of the building must maintain a residential look, such as maintaining house numbers on the front of the building that are visible from the road and no accumulation of junk or garbage in any of the yards.
• In addition to all other city regulations regarding pets being followed, animals must be secured at all times while on the property. No more than three dogs may stay at a rental at one time.
• One sign, no larger than four square feet, is required to be attached to or placed in front of the rental to help people identify the property.
• The owner must demonstrate that the rental has been registered as a business with the state, provide proof of insurance, and attest that all applicable lodging taxes will be paid before being issued an initial permit.
• An operation and maintenance inspection is required before an initial application can be submitted, and a fire and life safety inspection — to be conducted by the city — is also required before the initial permit has been issued.
• A property management plan, that is more in-depth than what city code presently requires, must be submitted and approved, and demonstrate how the rental will be managed and how any impacts to neighboring properties will be minimized. It must include information such as the property manager’s name and phone number, the local point of contact, and how garbage removal is to be conducted.
• Once approved, the property management plan must be mailed to all adjoining property owners within 300 feet once approved, and be prominently displayed inside the front entrance of the vacation rental.
• Vacation rental licenses must be renewed annually, and are non-transferable — if a property housing a rental is sold, the new owner must wait at least three months to re-apply for both the license and the permit.

Along with vacation rentals, this year’s tweaks to the code also addressed food trucks, which have steadily grown in numbers on the peninsula in recent years and could be primed for more accelerated growth in Long Beach. Coverage on new and revised food truck rules can be seen in next week’s issue.