STR Green Light
- Dwight Worden | Seaview Avenue
After years of work by successive City Councils to gain approval for a regulatory framework for short-term rentals (STRs) in Del Mar, a recent flurry of actions means that the City’s STR regulations will now go into full force and effect, with the STR permit application period opening on March 2.
The key approval came on February 5, when the California Coastal Commission approved the STR ordinance/Local Coastal Program Amendment (LCPA) without modifications, by a 7-2 vote. A motion to reduce the minimum STR stay from 3 to 2 days failed. Just before taking up Del Mar’s LCPA, the CCC voted to lower the Encinitas minimum STR stay to 2 days, but Del Mar Principal Planner Amanda Lee made a convincing argument that Del Mar’s circumstances justify a different result, given that hotel rooms within a 5-mile radius of Del Mar outnumber homes in Del Mar.
On February 3, in anticipation of the CCC approval, the Council established a 60-day STR permit application period that will begin on March 2 and end on May 1. Council adoption of a fee schedule for STR permits on February 17 was the final action needed to launch the program.
The ordinance has a cap of 129 STRs (5% of the dwelling units in Del Mar based on the 2020 Census). The 129 units are allocated by area as follows: 60% in the North Beach area, 25% in the South Beach area, and 15% in the Hills area. However, the ordinance also allows for the cap to be temporarily exceeded in order to accommodate STRs that existed before the STR ordinance was adopted. To qualify, these “existing STRs” were required to submit registry applications by Dec. 31, 2024. Through this registry process, the City verified 150 existing STRs.
If these 150 existing STRs apply for permits under the new regulations, they will all be accommodated, but no additional STR permits will be issued until the total number of STR permits falls below 129, and the cap of 129 will be in place thereafter. In the meantime, those seeking a permit for a new STR can be waitlisted.
Importantly, the stated objectives of the STR ordinance not only include accommodating short-term visitor uses, but also serving the City’s need to maintain its long-term housing stock, to comply with its State-mandated housing obligations driven by the housing crisis; and to comply with the Community Plan’s objective to maintain Del Mar’s special residential character, in part by separating commercial and residential uses.
The ordinance specifically refers to Coastal Commission “policy guidance to limit new short term rentals to primary residences,” and only the existing STRs will be exempt from the requirement that STRs must be in a “primary residence,” that is, one that serves as a primary residence for more than 6 months of the year. New STRs will be limited to one per owner, and have other restrictions that do not apply to the initially-permitted existing STRs.
The Council-adopted fees for STRs are $815 for the initial STR Permit application fee (permit valid for 2 years) and a $598 bi-annual renewal fee. The fee structure is intended to fully fund the cost of administering the STR program, including permit processing, specialized software costs, TOT remittance processing, monitoring, enforcement, and a 24-hour complaint hotline.