Throughout Santa Barbara County in 2014, short-term vacation rentals accounted for more than $470 million in economic activity and nearly 5,000 jobs, according to a report produced by consulting firm TXP, Inc. and contracted by HomeAway, an online vacation-rental marketplace. Late last year, the county’s Planning Commission voted to update its zoning code to ban vacation rentals in unincorporated residential neighborhoods but remained open to the concept on ranches and farms. The commission meets again on the matter at 9 a.m. on 2/24.
