Most Airbnb and other short-term rentals would be banned in San Diego under a proposal released Wednesday by outgoing Councilwoman Sherri Lightner.

The City Council is expected to take up the measure at a special meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Golden Hill next to City Hall downtown.

The proposal, which would need five votes to pass, comes in a simple definition change in the city municipal code. Visitors and tourists would be reclassified as transients if they rented a home for less than 30 days.

“It’s been an issue for quite a long time,” said Lightner, who scheduled the item in her capacity as council president, “and to clarify the situation, the purpose and intent of the residential zone is for residents. And to make sure that the single-family zones retain their quality of life.”


If Lightner’s rule change goes into effect, the municipal code appears to levy a $2,500 fine per violation and a maximum of $250,000 per parcel of land for violations.

Currently in San Diego there is nothing in the municipal code that clearly defines a short-term rental, although there are regulations that govern bed-and-breakfast inns, along with board-and-lodging establishments.

Under Lightner’s proposal, a home could not be rented to transients for less than 30 days in most single-family zones of the city. In a multifamily zone, renters would have to stay at least seven days, she said.

In addition, renters or owners of single-family homes could not rent out a room or space for less than seven days. Areas that allow visitor accommodations would be permitted to have short-term rentals.


Lightner said owners or renters who don’t know what zone they live in could get the answer by calling the city’s Development Services Department at (619) 446-5000 or send an email to dsdweb@sandiego.gov.

Airbnb, the largest service that books rentals in San Diego, says it has 4,900 “hosts” within the city limits, 67 percent of whom rent an entire home, 30 percent a private space and 3 percent a shared space.

Lightner said she acted after other committees and groups had weighed in on the issue, and she wanted to bring it to the full council and public. She retires from the council in December.

Reaction from the business community came at a news conference held a few hours before Lightner’s proposal went public.


Aimee Faucett, chief operating officer of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, called on the council to reject the proposal and wait for stakeholders to reach a consensus on the best course to take.

“From a business community standpoint, at the end of the day, we all agree it needs to be regulated,” Faucett said. “You can’t have irresponsible operators in neighborhoods.”

Councilman Chris Cate said Lightner’s measure will push short-term rentals “underground, further complicating any regulation and enforcement by the city.”

“This proposal will have a detrimental effect on residents of the city,” he said at the noontime press conference.


Cate said he would release a proposal by Monday that would institute fees, fines and permits to regulate short-term rentals.

Councilman Scott Sherman, who prefers strict enforcement of the current rules before passing a new law, said he will ask Mayor Kevin Faulconer to veto the measure if it reaches his desk. A spokeswoman for Faulconer said he will make that decision if the Lightner proposal passes.

Other speakers said banning short-term rentals could hurt small business and make housing less affordable.

“I depend on Airbnb to help me live in my place,” said Alicia Sacks, 70, who rents out a futon for about $40 per night in her home in the Home/Fairmount Avenue area. She said she survives on about $620 per month from Social Security and pays more than $800 in rent.


Airbnb says it collected $7.5 million in transient occupancy taxes within the city in the fiscal 2016 year. Airbnb hosts must register with the city and obtain a city tax number to join the Airbnb network.

A group called Save San Diego Neighborhoods sent out a notice to urge the public to attend the Tuesday council meeting.

“We said the change was coming. Here it is,” the notice said. “We need you — NOW — to stand up for the tens of thousands of San Diego homeowners who bought their homes based on a simple promise from the city — that they were buying their home in a residential zone.”

Over the last decade, residents have complained that investors were buying up houses and renting them out on a short-term basis to people who held loud parties and disrupted the neighborhood.


Lightner said she believed the short-term rentals have been illegal all along.

But city enforcement code enforcement officers have been stymied in taking action because of conflicting rules and definitions.

City Attorney Jan Goldsmith and his predecessor, Mike Aguirre, have urged the council to take action. But Lightner did not run her proposal past Goldsmith’s office before releasing it.

“We gave input consistent with our (memorandum of law reports) and President Lightner’s office decided to take a direction with one they felt comfortable with,” said spokesman Gerry Braun.


David Moty, chairman of the Community Planners Committee, said Lightner spoke to his group Tuesday night and outlined her plans in general. About five minutes of comments followed from some of the 100 pro-rental advocates present.

“We have not taken a position on this idea,” he said of Lightner’s plan.

However, he said the planners, who represent some 40 neighborhood planning groups citywide, had previously expressed their views in September 2015 on what should be done.

The Planning Commission heard testimony in December and returned it for staff evaluation. Various regulatory ideas were debated the next month.


The council’s Smart Growth and Land Use Committee also debated the issue in May 2015 and directed staff to draft a measure that would go straight to the council.

The mayor said earlier this year that he, too, would submit a new ordinance sometime this year.

Other cities have tried to regulate short-term rentals with limited success. Coronado generally prohibits such rentals of less than 25 days, but they apparently continue in business. Airbnb lists more than 300 hosts on its website.

The California Coastal Commission had allowed Coronado’s law to go into effect, but in recent years it has generally opposed such measures because they eliminate low-cost rental units in the coastal zone.


Lightner said her measure will not require coastal commission endorsement, but that has yet to be verified.

roger.showley@sduniontribune.com; (619) 293-1286; Twitter: @rogershowley