ENCINITAS — After more than four years of public hearings, contentious debates, and regulatory review, the California Coastal Commission has approved Encinitas's short-term vacation rental ordinance — a milestone that City Manager Pamela Antil announced during Tuesday night's City Council meeting.
The approval clears the way for the city to enforce a comprehensive set of rules governing platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo, including a citywide cap on the number of permitted vacation rentals, minimum distance requirements between properties, and a modified minimum stay that the Coastal Commission reduced from three nights to two.
Staff members Patty Anders, Charlotte Bremer, and Megan Openshaw were recognized by Antil for their work shepherding the ordinance through the multi-year approval process. The ordinance still requires a Local Coastal Program amendment, and a final version will return to the City Council before going back to the Coastal Commission for consent approval.
What the Ordinance Does
The new regulations, originally adopted by the City Council as Ordinance No. 2022-16 in November 2022, establish the following framework:
- Citywide cap: Non-hosted short-term rentals — where the property owner is not present — are limited to 2.5% of the city's single-family and duplex housing units, or roughly 665 permits based on current housing inventory.
- Coastal zone cap: In the communities of Leucadia, Old Encinitas, and Cardiff-by-the-Sea — all west of Interstate 5, where vacation rental density is highest — the cap is set at 4% of housing units.
- Distance requirement: Non-hosted vacation rentals must be at least 200 feet apart to prevent clustering in residential neighborhoods.
- Minimum stay: The Coastal Commission modified the city's original three-night minimum for non-hosted rentals to two nights, citing the need to preserve affordable coastal access for visitors. Hosted rentals, where the owner is on-site, have no minimum stay requirement.
- Property types: Only single-family homes and duplexes are eligible. Condominiums, apartments, and accessory dwelling units are excluded.
The annual permit fee remains $425, and operators must collect a 10% Transient Occupancy Tax. All permitted rentals must have a 24/7 local contact person who can respond to complaints within one hour.
A Long Road to This Point
The city's efforts to regulate vacation rentals stretch back nearly two decades. Encinitas first attempted to restrict short-term rentals in 2005 with Ordinance No. 2005-09, but portions of that law were repealed the following year.
The current regulatory push began in May 2021, when the City Council created a Short-term Rental Ad-hoc Subcommittee to study the issue. A community meeting that month drew strong opinions on both sides. An initial proposal to require a five-night minimum stay drew significant opposition — more than 40 residents spoke against it at an October 2021 hearing — and the council unanimously voted to shelve it.
A revised ordinance with a three-night minimum for non-hosted rentals was adopted in December 2021, followed by the cap and distance requirements in November 2022. The Planning Commission had recommended tightening the city's original proposals, reducing the citywide cap from 3% to 2.5% and the coastal zone cap from 5% to 4%. The council adopted the Planning Commission's recommendations on a 4-0 vote, with one member recused.
The ordinance was then submitted to the California Coastal Commission for certification as a Local Coastal Program amendment — a step required for any zoning changes in the coastal zone. That review process took more than three years.
Both Sides of a Persistent Debate
The debate over vacation rentals in Encinitas has exposed a deep divide in the community.
Residents who supported stricter regulations have pointed to years of complaints about noise, overcrowding, illegal parking, and trash in neighborhoods that have seen a concentration of short-term rentals. Some have described the proliferation of investor-owned vacation properties as turning residential streets into commercial corridors, with absentee owners operating what amount to unlicensed hotels. Supporters of the cap have also argued that every home used as a full-time vacation rental is one fewer home available to long-term renters in a region facing a severe housing shortage.
Property owners who operate vacation rentals have pushed back, arguing that the regulations infringe on their rights to use their property as they see fit. Some have said they purchased homes specifically with the intention of supplementing their income through short-term rentals and that the caps could devalue their investments. Others have noted that vacation rentals support local businesses by bringing visitors who spend money at restaurants, shops, and attractions. Several speakers at past council hearings argued that the city should focus on enforcing existing rules against disruptive behavior rather than imposing blanket restrictions on an entire category of property use.
The Coastal Commission's Role
The Coastal Commission's modification of the minimum stay from three nights to two reflects the state agency's longstanding position that short-term rentals serve an important role in providing affordable coastal access. The Commission has historically discouraged outright bans on vacation rentals in the coastal zone, favoring instead what it has described as reasonable and balanced regulations that address neighborhood concerns while preserving visitor access to the coast.
The reduction to a two-night minimum is expected to increase flexibility for weekend bookings, particularly for visitors who cannot afford longer stays at coastal hotels. The change was referenced during Coastal Commission deliberations on a separate short-term rental case involving the nearby city of Del Mar earlier this month.
What Happens Next
The city now needs to finalize the Local Coastal Program amendment and bring the updated ordinance back to the City Council for formal adoption. It will then return to the Coastal Commission for a consent vote. City staff are expected to present the final ordinance to the council in the coming weeks.
As of early 2026, there are approximately 918 active short-term rental permits in Encinitas. With the citywide cap set at roughly 665, the ordinance's enforcement provisions — including how existing permits above the cap will be handled — are likely to be closely watched by both sides of the debate.