The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is set to hear an appeal Tuesday for Cali Lake RV Resort by residents seeking to permanently house their recreational vehicles at the property.
In April, the county Regional Planning Commission granted owner Stewart Silver a conditional use permit that allows for short-term stays of up to 90 days during a six-month period.
That limit is the same as what Silver had in his prior CUP, which he had held since 2000, but he has contested that the enforcement has never been exercised, at this RV park or others around the county.
Residents of the RV park, located in a remote location east of Santa Clarita limits and south of Agua Dulce, were to be given a one-year window in which to find permanent housing, according to Richard Claghorn, principal planner with the Planning Commission overseeing the project.
Following the ruling in April, Claghorn said the RV park is in a very high fire severity zone and a floodplain, making the area susceptible to fires and floods.
“As such, the county’s position is that it is not suitable for long-term stays or high-intensity residential use and it is subject to a length of stay limit of 90 days in any six-month period,” Claghorn wrote in an email, adding that a one-time extension could be requested after the one-year waiting period has come up.
In a phone interview on Thursday, Silver said the county has been checking each week to ensure that the park is staying within the 47-space limit that is outlined in the CUP. He had previously been allowed to have 103 spaces available.
After that reduction occurred, Silver said he knows of at least seven former residents who are now living on the streets.
“They’ve been there the whole time,” Silver said. “They don’t want to go anywhere else … They’d rather live in their own home than live in an apartment.”
He said the belief that short-term renting is better is wrong, due to the high fire and flood severity risk in the area. He said he has an emergency plan that all residents know, one that short-term renters may not be as familiar with and could forget should a catastrophe occur.
Silver also cited case law that states that if a rental property has an exemption for long-term stays, then the onus is on the county to prove that the exemption should no longer be granted.
“Once an applicant, such as the park, makes such a formal request, the burden to rebut this long-term-stay exemption request is actually on the county, not the applicant (i.e., park),” reads a letter from Silver’s attorney, Chris Chapman, to Claghorn. “(California) Health & (Safety) Code §18865.2(a) (‘exemption shall be granted unless the … county … makes a substantial finding.’)”
Silver also said permanent residents can have their kids attend local schools, which is not the case for short-term renters.
“It’s not a tremendous money-maker, but it would be catastrophic to make these people move out,” he said.
Tuesday’s meeting is set to begin at 11 a.m. at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, Room 381B, located at 500 W. Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles.
