Photos by Catherine Stachowiak
The Kernville Chamber of Commerce addressed public officials with the idea of limiting the number of Airbnbs in Kernville, Monday September 23.
The chamber invited Supervisor Phillip Peters, local Field Director Cody Criswell, Kern County’s Chief Economic Development Officer Jim Damian, and Senior Deputy Henry Plaza of the Kern County Sheriff’s Office.
The chamber hall was packed to nearly capacity with locals. The majority of those attending thought that the number of short term rentals (STRs) within the town of Kernville ought to be limited, though most people at the meeting said that they had no interest in thoroughly banning short term rentals in the vicinity.
Neighbors complained about the potential for higher crime rates, visitors to short-term rentals breaking traffic laws, endangering the public. Others complained about trash, and loud, late night parties. Others were afraid their school would close down with fewer long-term residents living in Kernville.
Neighbors suggested the idea of enforcing an ordinance, which requires STRs to be at least 10 feet from another residence, and requiring new owners to live in the place they purchase, for a minimum timeframe, before renting it out.
One hotel manager said that Airbnbs were raising real estate prices in the area where he moved from. Companies were buying multiple homes and listing them on booking agencies. He took at least a 40% hit on rentals over the last couple years in Arrowhead and had three hotels go under.
A teacher from Kernville Elementary School, Sarah Cole said her principal sent her to the meeting to represent the school. “I noticed a big drop in our enrollment. And it was during those COVID years I think. And that’s when the Airbnb market got pretty hot around here. Prior to COVID we had 135 students at our school. Now I have 106,” she said.
According to Cole teachers at Kernville Elementary were teaching combination classes and getting stretched too thin. “I know Airbnb owners feel like they pay their taxes. Your property taxes go to the state of California. And then we get our portion based on enrollment. We don’t have the family rentals. They’re being priced out,” she said. Out of all the transfers from her school, students were going to different schools, and only one was now home schooling.
Tim Lambirth, the local who sent the letter to county supervisors and the chamber, which got this whole movement started said, “I think it would be in everyone’s interest if you could take this conversation down to Bakersfield and continue it.” He brought up the fact that in Placer County, Lake Tahoe had an ordinance limiting Airbnbs.
Lambirth suggested the county could check to see that Kernville STR owners were actually paying their bed taxes.
Local resident Karen Northcutt said, “I’ve been a consultant for the county. I’ve written zoning ordinances and I have written the specific plan and the environmental impact report for the Kern Valley. So I am pretty familiar with the area and the statistics. I know, from doing my job, that if you want to have rules for the county to take care of that, they have to apply county wide.”
Northcutt suggested that the County of Kern write an amendment to the zoning ordinance, which is now silent on the issue of STRs. She thought getting input from other areas of the county, which are widely used for recreation, by starting a task force, the county could better write the amendment. “This is a very solvable problem including the density issue,” she said.
Owners of Airbnbs in the area, advocating for short term rentals, said that they hire local businesses to maintain their properties including swamp cooler service, pool maintenance, landscaping, managing and cleaning services, HVAC, firewood and supplies retail purchase, and they also support local charities.
Christine Dochterman, owner of Clean Getaways said her STRs have signs with a number to call with any complaints. She assured locals that some of the hosts of Airbnbs have been meeting, sharing additional rule sections, and promised to review guests honestly. Her group is meeting again in October to discuss ways they can help the community.
Mike Woodward said he and his wife have lived up here for over 30 years and he’s been involved with the Whiskey Flat Days reenactment encampment for over 20 years. “I think we ought to get a short term rental advisory group going,” said Woodward.
Supervisor Peters said he wanted to bring these concerns back to the board and reach out to other areas such as Pine Mountain Club to see if other communities had similar complaints or issues. He pondered whether steps could be taken as far as changes in the zoning. He wanted to start looking into how Placer County, on behalf of Lake Tahoe, was dealing with these issues.
Damian said he tries to make Kern County the best county in the state to start and grow a business. “We hear you. We understand there is an issue the county is not ignoring,” he said. He brought back some statistics. In the Kern River Valley area there are about 231 registered Short Term Vacation Rentals. The county verifies those are properly registered, certified, and pay 6% of fees back to the county. Presently there’s no cap on the amounts aloud. Enrollment from Kernville Elementary was at 105. Wallace Elementary enrollment was down 20 something students from last year. Kern Valley High School enrollment is up from last year.
Criswell said, “We want to help without hurting. Because there are a lot of responsible owners that manage their short term rentals really well, and put a lot of care into it, and invest in our community and invest in our businesses, we don’t want to punish them for some bad or poorly managed STRs.”
The county currently has ordinances that cover some of the complaints and are enforcement issues. Criswell said the community must actively report to the sheriff’s office issues that come up.
STRs have a limit to six people. After six tenants the rental falls into a different category and requires a Conditional Use Permit. The county compares the list of those STRs, already registered with the county, with those registered on Airbnb listings to see if there are discrepancies.
Deputy Plaza said the sheriff’s office is working on improving its numbers. Right now their department needs more units at night. “We’re constantly running through academies,” he said.
President of the chamber Orion Sanders said, “Obviously what keeps Kernville alive during winter is full time residents. Most of the brick and mortar business (owners) can tell you that during the winter it’s gone down in the last few years. We can presume that it’s based on the fact that we don’t have those full time residents using all the businesses and facilities through the wintertime. To balance that out we’ve put a lot of effort into tourism and recreation during the spring through fall to try to get those people from out of county to spend their dollars in this county.” Sanders stated there’s a balance between needing Airbnbs to accommodate tourism and meeting the need for jobs to draw full time residents. “I believe that the county needs to invest in the recreation and tourism of the Kern River Valley, to help build those businesses back up, to make that balance between the Airbnbs and full time residents.”
