Dana Point may agree to have voters decide a short-term rental ordinance

Dana Point’s City Council tonight may approve a process that would result in voters deciding whether a short-term rental ordinance may go into effect.

Councilwoman Debra Lewis says short-term rentals impact everyone. And if the Council were to approve an ordinance, the zoning codes would have to change. Currently, the zoning codes dictate which areas are for commercial and residential and a few areas are mixed for both commercial and residential. If the Council were to approve a short-term rental ordinance, it would have to change the residential zoning to allow areas for the short-term rental business.

Lewis says the other issue involves district voting, which went into effect last year. If a voter were to be unhappy with the way a councilmember or councilmembers voted regarding short-term rentals, it’s possible the voter would have no recourse to vote against the city leaders because the councilmembers could be outside of the voter’s district.

She says by having a ballot measure, all residents would have the chance to vote on a proposed short-term rental ordinance.

 Tonight’s Council meeting begins at six.