Send a message to the county.
Option 1. Start with our email template and then make it your own.
Follow these steps to make your voice heard.
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Click the button below, and an email will open in your preferred email application with the officials' email addresses ready for you to send.
*This option may not work in all browsers, if the link doesn't work for you please scroll down to option 2.*
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The email includes some words from us to get you started.
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You're welcome to add your experiences with Alt rentals and express your support, sign your name and then send. Please note the town and state where you live.
Option 2. Copy and Paste. Then send.
If option 1 didn't work in your browser please follow the steps below to make your voice heard.
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Click the button below, and an email will open in your preferred email application with the officials' email addresses ready for you to send.
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Please write about your experiences with Alt rentals, express your support, then sign your name and send.
Please include the town and state where you live.
You can copy and paste this text if it's helpful to get you started:
Dear Supervisors and Department of Land Use Services,
I am writing today to discuss a reasonable permitting process for Alt rentals in San Bernardino County. Alternative rentals, or "Alts", refer to travel trailers, yurts, domes, recreational cabins, recreational vehicles, A-frame tents and more that are rented out to visitors for overnight stays. The Alts we’re advocating for are small, locally owned, host occupied, and well-managed.
I appreciate the County’s attempt to balance the needs of our neighborhoods and for their consideration around this important issue, but I am deeply disappointed to hear about the new “no tolerance” enforcement policy.
I support safe and well-managed Alt rentals and believe they are an asset to our community. Alts don’t have any impact on long term housing; help locals pay property-taxes, their mortgages, and maintain their property; and have a low environmental footprint.
The existing process for obtaining a permit isn’t “reasonable” as Supervisor Rowe recently suggested. As I understand it, the Conditional Use Permit process requires a non-refundable application fee of more than $14,000 just to get started, in addition to other costs for environmental studies, cultural studies, potential drainage studies, multiple public hearings, CEQA requirements, and more. The typical approval process takes at least nine months and can cost $35,000 or more.
Requiring a permit for well-managed Alts is the right idea, but a CUP is not reasonable for small Alts. The costly CUP favors outside, investor-backed corporations who can afford the CUP, all at the expense of local residents trying to make ends meet. Alt hosts have been asking the county for an affordable and reasonable permitting pathway for years, and were told repeatedly by the county that they would create clear rules for this activity.
Please make true on your word and create a reasonable permitting pathway for well-managed Alts.
Sincerely,
