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During the summer, we offered a few camping spots on the meadow of our property and hosted AirBnB guests from all over the world. Word got out and soon after, the County Code Enforcement shut us down because we had no permit for tent camping on our property.
Please help us with our project and check out our site and petition.
Thanks
You can’t just get permits for tent camping?
Yes, we have applied for the use-permit at the county, for $13,000.
But their demands for improvements are so unreasonable that it makes the whole idea unfeasible.
This is why I started the petition (http://sunsetbeats.org/#petition) to ask the Board of Supervisors to waive the discretionary demands and vote in favor of our application.
Hi Max,
I’ve signed our petition BUT your post here is a bit misleading.
It’s not just a few camping spots you have asked for in your permit application it’s a major commercial operation including restaurant, museum, shop etc etc so this will have an environmental impact and significant commercial profit for yourself and your family. People may rightly have concerns about the impact in such a remote area. In Australia that might likely be a national park, with ownership retained by the government, and you wouldn’t be allowed development, restaurants etc and you would need nature friendly toilets and meet safety requirements. It seems reasonable that the city stepped in before this got out of hand otherwise we would run the risk of profit seeking activities setting up all over the place without concern for the environment and safety of their consumers and neighbours.
My suggestions would be:
Best of luck
Hi Emily.
Thank you for your detailed comment and advice.
You are right, of course, about all valid and sensible concerns about the proposed facilities.
But remember, this was a US Air Force military installation.
They had a mess hall, workshops, dormitories, a restaurant, a theater, a stage, a bowling alley, a PX, a commissary, and many other facilities that were serving the 150-200 personnel who were stationed here over three decades.
The only uses that were not established by the military is the camping, and the greenhouse.
I posted the link to our website that describes the project application and it’s scope.
I did not mean to mislead anyone.
We have all intentions to adhere to all legal and code requirements for the use that we are proposing here.
And the California legislation is quite detailed about what is required.
But some of the demands by the County’s Departments are going far beyond the State’s requirements.
I am sorry but I have little sympathy here if you are a large commercial operation. You should have found our what you needed to do to get a permit and then made a decision as to whether the cost involved made a viable business proposition.
Well, if you call 3-10 tents on the weekend a large commercial operation…
That is what we had until we were shut down.
The application would have cost the same amount of money, regardless of the number of tents or facilities that we applied for! Since we have the space and the infrastructure in place,we decided to make the money count.
In fact, having even one tent on any day would require the same fee for the application!
We also knew that going into it.
But what we were not aware of was the possible extent of the discretionary requirements that the county departments are able to demand.
Max it kinda is a large operation. Your first post made me think you had a tent at the end of the garden ! I do wish you luck though and I hope you find a way to continue operating
What we are proposing may be a commercial operation, yes.
What we were doing so far was not.
To the county, there is no difference!
That is the issue that we are working on.
The same requirements would be demanded of any other AirBnB host in the area, regardless of how large or small their backyard is. So, should the county be authorized to deny you or anyone else, letting people tent in your backyard for a small amount of money, even if the law allows it?
I’ve been to Cambria and it’s beautiful there indeed. It’s a very rural location however and I’m not sure you will have the the tourist traffic to support all the extraneous buildings and such that you envision for the operation? From what I understand the California Coastal Commission is very strict to work with. It’s too bad you couldn’t have just done the tent camping but maybe there is strict enforcement over this due to environmental concerns and that’s why they busted you. I love the pic of the glowing tent, looks beautiful.
@Max_Schaefers I’m talking about the plans you are punting on the link you provided.
Bottom line, BNB makes it clear each host is responsible for checking with their local authority that they have the necessary permissions to host. You were not aware because you didn’t check
The thing is that the County seems to have no issues with the facilities, but mainly with the tents.
And yes, the income from hosting campers may not justify the cost of the project, but that is not what this is about.
There is no other place like this on the entire California Coast.
We want to improve the site anyway, but we also want to share it with other people.
It is the sharing that the County is making difficult.
In my hometown, the California coastal commission spent more than 20 years in litigation with high end devleopers. In the end, we got a pathetic sidewalk to the beach park in exchange for handing over prime oceanfront to developers. So in the end the developers won. Trying to beat the Coastal commission could be tough, they are notorious for being really hardline.
Yes, their track record is less than stellar. Seems like big developers regularly get their projects approved, whereas private landowners on the coast do not.
Well, everyone wanted a government that would protect us from every imaginable risk. So now we have a government that works tirelessly to protect us from the dangers of beautiful sunsets and ocean views.
yes, we don’t want the housing affordability crisis most of the world is experiencing to lead to people renting out unregulated tent spaces in their backyard? really, can you imagine
As someone who has being dealing with another wonderful California city for simple building permits, I feel you pain! We had to pay lots of $$ for the privilege of having our permit application reviewed, with no guarantee it would be approved. We are still waiting.
After reading you website it was clear to me that since you were applying for a large permit you were ‘shooting for the moon’ with the scope of work, as is common with these application. However, you may want to explain that more clearly on the website, so other people don’t get their knickers in a twist.
Good luck! We would love to visit once you get this settled.
Well, I think you have to differentiate between people vacationing with a tent and
/or backpack, and people living or considering to live in a tent because they lost their home.
In my opinion. The latter may also be much better off by camping in someones backyard rather than under a bridge or on a public meadow next to the courthouse. And apparently, there is no need for a permit to camp on public grounds, for a night or two. I am no expert on the law…
You need to visit Skid Row if you want to see people permanently living in tents. Horrible.