The Saratoga Planning Commission recommended on Dec. 10 that the city not allow short-term rentals.
Planning commissioners also voted 6-1 to recommend the City Council approve hefty fines for violators and requested staff put in place a clear process to enforce punishment for illegal rentals. Commissioner Badrinath Sridharan cast the only dissenting vote.
There are several properties in the city listed as such on on the travel websites Airbnb and VRBO. City staff put together a draft to provide guidelines for allowing short-term rentals following the City Council’s decision in October to have the planning commission hold a public meeting on the subject.
City staff’s draft ordinance, which is based on Los Gatos’ short-term rentals policy, would allow 5% of the city’s housing stock of around 11,500 homes to be used for short-term rentals. Homeowners would have to apply for a license to rent out their primary residence. When asked how the rules and tax collection would be enforced, community development director Bryan Swanson said that the city and consultants who work with travel booking websites would be in charge of making sure that revenue is collected appropriately and that visitors are following the rules.
Swanson acknowledged that the main benefit of permitting short-term rentals would be to increase city revenue through transient occupancy taxes and possible ancillary spending by visitors, particularly with the Super Bowl and World Cup coming to the Bay Area in 2026. Saratoga is expected to face a structural budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year.
“Saratoga is a beautiful community, but we rely on residential property taxes,” Swanson said during the meeting. “We have really wonderful businesses here. We’re thankful for those businesses. They do produce a revenue source, but we are seeking additional revenue sources that will help us.”
However, every person who spoke during public comment was against allowing short-term rentals in their neighborhood or in the city at all. Several residents complained of issues caused by neighbors who rent out their houses via Airbnb or other travel booking websites, like loud parties, too many cars parked on narrow streets and cul de sacs and trash piling up. A few residents said that allowing short-term rentals would create a bureaucratic process that’s not needed in the city.
“Please don’t do this to us,” said one man over Zoom.
Some residents on private streets asked for the law to not apply to their area. Other residents even proposed paying higher taxes to avoid allowing short-term rentals in the city. A man who has lived in Saratoga since 1985 said allowing short-term rentals “changes the character of the neighborhoods that we live in.”
A couple residents even accused short-term renters in their neighborhoods of committing property crimes, like theft and burglary.
“We got enough people in the neighborhoods that shouldn’t be there,” said a man during public comment. “We don’t need to bring in more.”
Commissioner Sridharan was the only person to speak in favor of allowing short-term rentals in the city, suggesting that the percentage of housing allowed for that use could be lower than 5%.
“A blanket ban doesn’t sound like California,” Sridharan said. “This is an innovative state. We do lots of cool things. We need to be able to try things out in a safe manner.”