Dear Mayor Vaterlaus and City Council Members:
Please pass a new short-term rental (STR) ordinance that restricts the operations of the hundreds
of unhosted STRs that are robbing our City of much-needed housing and destabilizing our
neighborhoods.
I urge you to hear the distress in our neighborhoods and work with our community on drafting a
revised STR ordinance that:
- Limits STR permits to property owners who are “natural persons” and for whom the
property is their primary residence. - Allows only one STR to be in effect within the City of Pacifica for any owner and/or operator.
- Sets an operating limit on unhosted STRs to 60 rental nights per year.
- Sets a limit of only two (2) guests per legal STR bedroom and a limit of one (1) car permitted
per bedroom at any STR property. - Stipulates that daytime visitors to the unhosted STR are only permitted between the hours
of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., and further mandates that the total number of daytime visitors an STR
renter can bring to the property is one-half the total number of permitted renters (e.g., the
six (6) renters of a three-bedroom unhosted STR are permitted to have only three (3) daytime
visitors). - Revokes the permit for any STR property at which two or more noise or other ordinance
violations have occurred within any 12-month period. - Creates new enforcement teams that include dedicated Code Enforcement and PPD officers.
- Requires all unhosted STR permit holders to designate a local representative who is on call
24/7 while the property is rented and who can arrive at the property within 20 minutes to
abate any problems, up to and including eviction of renters. - Requires a 30-day notice be sent to neighbors within a 500-foot radius of any property for
which the owner has applied for an STR permit, allowing neighbors a comment period. - Stipulates that operation of the STR must not be a nuisance or threat to the public’s health,
safety, or welfare; must not directly and negatively impact any neighbor’s quiet enjoyment
of their home who live within 500 feet of the property; and that no interior or exterior activity
at the STR will interfere with or be detrimental to the residential use of adjacent properties. - Mandates that all advertising (written publication or online website) of the STR property
includes the City-issued STR registration number.
Name: _____________________ Date: _____________
Signature: __________________ Neighborhood: ___
Contact Information (email/phone ): ___________________________
To send to the City of Pacifica, use one of the following options: Scan your statement and email it to publiccomment@pacifica.gov.
This will go to the City Council and members of City Staff.]