The Del Mar City Council approved a resolution Feb. 17 to set short-term rental (STR) fees for operators of $815 for the first application and permit, which would be valid for two years, and $598 for two-year renewals.
The vote was the latest step in the implementation of a new short-term rental ordinance, making Del Mar the final coastal San Diego city to have one. The city will have a limit of 129 properties that are eligible to be STRs. There are 150 existing STRs that will be honored through the process, and new STR applications will be considered as the existing ones dwindle due to reasons such as changes in ownership.
Some residents said they were concerned that the fees were too high.
Del Mar resident Laura DeMarco questioned whether Del Mar would be able to hit its estimated $775,000 with the possible rate of attrition of existing STRs, particularly in the North Beach area.
“In summary, Del Mar must create more incentives in the form of lower permit fees and operating costs and ease of operation with longer-term STR permits in order to keep generating over $500,000 in TOT revenue needed for beach replenishment and undergrounding,” she wrote in an email to the city.
Council members ultimately voted 3-0 to approve the resolution for the new fees. Councilmember Terry Gaasterland was recused from the vote as the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission decides whether to investigate alleged conflict of interest in her vote on the city’s short-term rental ordinance.
The council agreed that having data through the initial implementation of the ordinance will help inform potential changes to the fee structure.
“If there’s an opportunity to lower fees, I would be totally open to it, but I really think we should get these regulations in place and then we can make informed decisions with data in the future,” Councilmember Dan Quirk said. “I’d also point out that all of these owners of these short-term rentals have not been paying fees for the last several years and decades, unlike all the other cities out there.”