The board of supervisors this week initiated the transfer of responsibility for administering the licensing program for hotels and motels as well as the licensing program for rental dwelling units in the unincorporated areas of San Bernardino County from the clerk of the board to the code enforcement division of the land use services department.
County staff has recommended shifting the responsibility for administering the licensing programs to the code enforcement division because those tasks will complement the current workload of the code enforcement division.
The board of supervisors took the action, which must be matched by a second vote of approval at its next meeting on May 23, to be fully adopted.
According to a staff report by Tom Hudson, the county’s land use services department director, “The code enforcement division currently issues thousands of permits annually, conducting inspections and enforcement actions as necessary to ensure compliance with applicable sections of the county code. This experience will allow the code enforcement division to streamline the licensing and application process for hotels and motels. The code enforcement division is involved in many of the compliance reviews for rental dwelling units and would be in a good position to determine the overall compliance of the operation as well as whether any remedial measures need to be taken. The proposed ordinance requires that a separate license be required for each rental dwelling unit. County staff believes individual licenses per dwelling unit would be more equitable for both the applicant and the county with separate inspections to ensure compliance with the various provisions of the county code and other law. Furthermore, if the applicant is found to be out of compliance, any enforcement action and remedy sought by the county will be limited to the rental dwelling unit in question. Otherwise suspension of a license would affect rental dwelling units that are not part of the subject non-compliance.