By admin 
El Dorado County supervisors took a step toward loosening controversial regulations on vacation properties like Airbnbs and Vrbo rentals on the county’s west slope.
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It’s welcome news for rental owners, who have long said the county’s vacation home rental policies were too restrictive for the area.
After a 2024 ordinance regulating short-term vacation rentals, county resident London Litza said she’s no longer able to lease out a house that sits adjacent to her own home.
“I just want to raise chickens, raise my babies, and provide a getaway for couples,” Litza said during public comment at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
Concerns about preserving rural and residential character have long shaped political debate around commercial activity in El Dorado County. The 2024 ordinance limiting vacation rentals in the county’s unincorporated areas cited complaints of excessive noise, disorderly conduct and illegal vehicle parking at vacation rentals.
“The increasing number of hosted home and short-term vacation rentals in some areas of the County adversely affects residential character, neighborhood stability, public safety, and quality of life,” the ordinance reads.
But rental owners in the west slope said the restrictions in that ordinance went too far and were more tailored to the Tahoe Basin, where vacation rentals have long been more concentrated.
There are currently 746 active permits for vacation rentals in the Tahoe Basin, compared with 192 in the west slope. Tahoe also has 233 permit applicants on its waitlist, compared with 17 in the west slope, according to a staff presentation during Tuesday’s board meeting.
West slope rental owners said during the meeting’s public comment period that the overly restrictive policies limited their ability to make money from their vacation properties.
That income is increasingly needed to cover rising costs, including fire insurance policies, the owners said.
In a 5-0 vote, supervisors directed staff to draft new ordinance language that would revise occupancy limits for vacation rentals, including changing a policy that currently counts children ages 6 and older toward a rental’s total occupancy. Supervisors also supported language that would allow detached guest houses to be used as vacation rentals.
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They also asked staff to create a process to reassess the eligibility of west slope residents who were denied or lost permits as a result of ordinance changes.
In the year since the ordinance was implemented, county officers carried out 21 enforcement actions against rental owners found to have violated the ordinance, according to a staff presentation at the board meeting.
The county logged 76 enforcement actions against owners who had no permit at all, the presentation said.
“We heard from a lot of people earlier this morning about their ability to keep income coming,” Supervisor Brian Veerkamp, who represents Placerville and the surrounding area, said during the meeting.
“And yet, we’re placing restrictions on ourselves,” he said. “We need to open up the ability for success.”
The supervisors pulled one proposed change for a separate vote.
Supervisor Lori Parlin, who represents northern El Dorado County, including Shingle Springs, said she did not support amending a rule that currently requires a 500-foot buffer between vacation rental properties.
The suggested change would remove that restriction for parcels larger than 5 acres.
But Parlin said the rule may be important for rural property owners who are concerned about clusters of vacation rentals near their homes.
“I do not support this one at all,” she said. “I don’t know what kind of outreach was done in some of these neighborhoods, talking to folks who actually live in the more rural areas.”
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Supervisors approved the change 4-1, with Parlin dissenting.