Backers of a referendum to overturn recently approved regulations sharply restricting short-term vacation rentals in San Diego submitted more than 62,000 signatures on Thursday to the county Registrar of Voters.

Supporters of the referendum effort, including representatives of home sharing platforms Airbnb and HomeAway, as well as a coalition of vacation rental hosts, showed up at the Registrar’s office with 87 boxes of petitions containing signatures that now must be verified as valid.

Nearly 36,000 signatures of registered voters are needed to force a public vote on the city’s newly adopted short-term rental rules. The City Council would have the option of either placing the measure on a future ballot, likely in 2020, or it could withdraw its action.

In the interim, if the referendum is deemed to have enough signatures, it would have the effect of putting the legislation on hold until a public vote is held. Backers, known as Stand for Jobs, Stop the Vacation Rental Ban, have raised nearly $1 million in support of the referendum, the bulk of the money coming from Airbnb and Expedia, which owns HomeAway.


“We are in this for the long haul,” said Jonah Mechanic, who leads Share San Diego, which represents home sharing hosts and some of the larger vacation rental companies in San Diego. “To date, we have contributed $30,000, and we will continually be raising money from supporters of short-term vacation rentals as we know this will be a very long and expensive fight.”

The already contentious battle over who can and cannot rent out homes for short-term stays promises to become even more so as critics of Airbnb-style rentals vow to fight any efforts to undo the council-enacted rules, which are supposed to go into effect next July.

Prompted by years of complaints from residents in neighborhoods throughout the city, the new regulations will restrict stays of under 30 days to one’s primary residence only and for no more than six months out of the year. The intent is to outlaw the short-term rental of second homes and investor properties throughout the city, including Mission Beach, long a magnet for vacation rentals.

“It is a very safe bet that Airbnb’s motivation behind this referendum is to simply stall the ordinances that the city approved and allow investors to get as big a footprint in San Diego as possible,” said La Jolla Town Council President Ann Kerr-Bache, who also heads a short-term vacation rental working group representing a number of residential communities. “By the time the 2020 election is here, they’ll have reached out to so many people they could easily double or triple their footprint.”


She said there already have been informal discussions among community members about possibly combating the referendum with an initiative of their own.

Airbnb and HomeAway as well are girding for a protracted fight.

“Despite the City’s flawed process and policy, it is clear that San Diegans care about vacation rentals and the value they provide to the broader tourism economy,” said Philip Minardi, spokesman for HomeAway. “We congratulate everyone who poured their all into this effort so far and look forward to continuing our support as this process unfolds in the days, weeks and months to come.”

Councilman Scott Sherman, who attended a Thursday news conference to publicize the submission of signatures, said he is supportive of the referendum because he believes the council’s action infringes on people’s property rights. Calling it a “de facto ban,” he said there still needs to be a vehicle for allowing individuals to rent out second homes on a short-term basis.


The signature-gathering effort, launched within days of the council’s Aug. 1 vote, had drawn sharp attacks from community groups claiming that paid circulators were deliberately misleading people about the regulations passed by the City Council in order to secure their signatures.

Kerr-Bache, on behalf of a number of community groups and town councils, sent a letter this week to the California Secretary of State’s office asking that it investigate what it alleged was fraudulent marketing of the petition drive.

In an email to the Union-Tribune, the Secretary of State’s office reiterated its policy that it neither confirms nor denies whether there is an ongoing investigation.

“Our office will review complaints sent to our office, which may or may not result in an investigation being opened,” said Sam Mahood, spokesman for Secretary of State Alex Padilla.


Mechanic on Thursday dismissed accusations of fraudulent activity by signature gatherers, calling it hearsay.

“If we had seen any proof of this, we would have brought signature gatherers in and trained them as to what is correct,” Mechanic said.

The signature-gathering effort also drew Trader Joe’s into the fray. It filed suit last week against the petition management firm, PCI Consultants, and Airbnb, claiming the signature gatherers were disruptive and engaging in unlawful activity.

The company had sought a preliminary injunction but in a Thursday morning court hearing, a Superior Court judge “took Trader Joe’s motion off calendar” because Airbnb informed the court that there was no longer any signature-gathering taking place, said attorney Jennifer Laser, representing Trader Joe’s.”


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lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com

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Twitter: @loriweisberg