Title
PLN250346 - BEAVER JEREMY T & WHITNEY TRS
Public hearing to consider action on a commercial vacation rental to allow the use of residential property for transient lodging for a period of 30 calendar days or fewer.
Project Location: 3105 Stevenson Dr, Pebble Beach, CA 93953
Proposed CEQA Action: Find the project Categorically Exempt pursuant to section 15301 of the CEQA Guidelines and find that none of the exceptions to the exemptions listed in section 15300.2 can be made.
Body
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that the Zoning Administrator adopt a Resolution:
a. Finding the project qualifies for a Class 1 Categorical Exemption pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15301 and none of the exceptions to the exemptions listed in section 15300.2 can be made; and
b. Approving a Use Permit for a commercial vacation rental to allow the use of residential property for transient lodging for a period of 30 calendar days or fewer.
The attached draft resolution includes findings and evidence for consideration (Exhibit A). Staff recommends approval subject to 9 conditions of approval.
PROJECT INFORMATION
Agent: Jeremy Beaver
Property Owner: BEAVER JEREMY T & WHITNEY TRS
APN: 007-422-022-000
Parcel Size: 0.27 acres
Zoned: Medium Density Residential, Building Site District-6, Design District, RES District or “MDR/B-6-D-RES.”
Plan Area: Greater Monterey Peninsula Area Plan
Flagged and Staked: N/A
Project Planner: Kyle Benalcazar, Assistant Planner
benalcazark@countyofmonterey.gov; 831-784-5716
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
The project is located at 3105 Stevenson Dr, a privately maintained road, in the Greater Monterey Peninsula Area of the unincorporated area of the County of Monterey. On December 1, 2025, the Applicant, Jeremy T. and Whitney Beaver, submitted an application seeking to use the existing single-family dwelling located on the parcel in a medium density residential neighborhood as a vacation rental. The site is developed with existing 2,803 square foot single-family dwelling with an attached 315 square foot garage, and a detached guesthouse. The applicant does not propose to include the guesthouse as part of the Commercial Vacation Rental and only proposes to use the single-family dwelling and attached garage. Signage will be posted to ensure the guesthouse is not utilized. The existing single-family dwelling has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a kitchen. The Applicant is proposing a maximum occupancy of 9 guests overnight, 14 guests during daytime hours, and a maximum of four contractors on site at any time. The property will retain its domestic water connections to California American Water Company, a public water provider, and Monterey Peninsula Water Management District will continue to provide sewer service. The property will retain its solid waste services to GreenWaste Recovery, LLC, a waste management company. Presently, only one commercial vacation rental has been permitted in the Greater Monterey Peninsula Area Plan under the County’s current regulations pursuant to Title 21, Section 21.64.290. If approved, the granting of this Use Permit would allow the establishment of the 25th permitted short-term vacation rental in the Greater Monterey Peninsula Area Plan out of 155 Use Permits that may be issued at any given time, pursuant to Title 21, Section 21.64.290.F.3.d.
Based on staff’s review of the planning application materials, the property complies with all rules and regulations pertaining to zoning uses and other applicable the 2010 County of Monterey General Plan (General Plan), Greater Monterey Peninsula Area Plan (GMPAP), Monterey County Code Title 7 Chapter 7.120 (Title 7), Monterey County Code Title 16 Chapter 16.80 (Title 16), and the Monterey County Inland Zoning Ordinance (Title 21).
Land Use
The parcel is zoned Medium Density Residential with a Building Site District-6, Design Control overlay, and Parking and Use of Major Recreational Equipment Storage District overlay or “MDR/B-6-D-RES.” Title 21 Section 21.12.050.Y allows for the Commercial Vacation Rental use subject to the granting of a Use Permit. Title 21 Section 21.64.290.F establishes the regulations for a property operating as a Commercial Vacation Rental on such property for transient lodging for a period of 30 calendar days or fewer.
The parcel is located on Stevenson Dr with a Design District overlay in the Greater Monterey Peninsula Area Plan. However, the project does not propose any physical changes that would have any potential to impact scenic/visual resources. No construction, exterior alterations to structures, land alteration, or vegetation (or tree) removal are proposed.
The property complies with Title 21, Section 21.64.290.F.5 in that it has been demonstrated that the response time for County emergency services for fire and emergency medical are adequate pursuant to the requirements of the 2010 County of Monterey General Plan Safety Element PS-1.1 and Table PS-1. The subject property is within a 5-minute drive from the Pebble Beach Fire Station 22 and a 10-minute drive from the Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula, which provides 24-hour emergency medical and fire response services. County Staff incorporated Condition No. 5 to ensure that the guests are provided with information on the response time for emergency medical and fire services and that contact information for these services is provided to all guests as a part of the informational notice posted within six feet of the front door (Exhibit A).
Parking requirements outlined in Title 21 Sections 21.64.290.F.6 and 21.58.040 requires that a Single-Family Detached residential dwelling unit have two spaces/unit. The application includes six parking spaces, which exceeds the minimum requirements.
The subject property complies with the limitation on the number of Commercial Vacation Rentals per legal lot requirements of Title 21 Section 21.64.290.F.7, which only allows one Commercial Vacation Rental per legal lot of record. The subject property will be the only Commercial Vacation Rental on the legal lot of record. The owner of the subject property complies with the ownership requirements of Title 21 Section 21.64.290.F.10, wherein the owner of the subject property is only allowed to have an ownership interest in one Commercial Vacation Rental within unincorporated Monterey County. The owner of the property does not have an ownership interest in other already operating Commercial Vacation Rentals in unincorporated Monterey County, and this would be their first and only Commercial Vacation Rental in unincorporated Monterey County.
As detailed in the draft resolution (Exhibit A), the Applicant has provided evidence of compliance with the applicable requirements. The designated Property Manager for the Commercial Vacation Rental, Carmel Realty Company, resides at 8th Ave, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93921, approximately 6.5 miles (16 minutes) from the subject property. Carmel Realty Company’s contact information will be provided to the guests of the property, and Carmel Realty Company will be available 24/7 to respond to guest or neighborhood questions or concerns. Carmel Realty Company will also ensure that any neighbor or guest complaints are resolved within thirty minutes. Carmel Realty Company’s contact information will be provided to guests as a part of the informational notice posted within six feet of the front door as required pursuant to Title 7 Section 7.120.040.L.
The property has a maximum occupancy of nine overnight guests, 14 daytime guests, and five contractors. The proposed occupancy does not exceed the limits set forth in the California Uniform Housing Code and the requirements enumerated in Title 7 Section 7.120.070.C, which limit the maximum overnight occupancy to two persons per bedroom plus one and not counting infants (zero to 12 months), with a not to exceed total maximum overnight occupancy of 10 overnight guests, regardless of the number of bedrooms in the property. Title 7 Section 7.120.070.C also limits the maximum daytime occupancy of occupants and visitors to not exceed a count of 1.5 times the maximum overnight occupancy and shall not exceed a total count of 15 persons per unit, no matter how many bedrooms.
To ensure the proposed use will not affect the residential character of the neighborhood, the following two conditions have been incorporated. Condition No. 3 has been incorporated to ensure that the property will not an event venue and Condition No. 4 to ensure that the property will remain in compliance with the regulations for Vacation Rentals in Title 7 Chapter 7.120, Title 21 section 21.64.290 and the Conditions of Approval. Additionally, the proposed Commercial Vacation Rental is subject to Monterey County’s Noise Ordinance (Chapter 10.60), which prohibits loud or unreasonable noise between the hours of 9:00PM and 7:00AM. In accordance with Title 21 section 21.64.280.D.2.h, if the property is found to be in violation of the approved operations plan or conditions of approval attached to this Use Permit, the permit may be revoked for non-compliance.
Private Road/Access
The property is within the Pebble Beach Company, the legally established governing structure for the private roads used to access the subject parcel. Pebble Beach Company is authorized to make determinations regarding the use, maintenance, and related matters regarding the private road. Pursuant to Title 21 section 21.64.290.F.4, the subject property must comply with Title 16 Chapter 16.80, which regulates private roads in Monterey County. The private road accessing the property is subject to a private road agreement and a private road maintenance agreement, which is recorded as a deed restriction for the subject property. The deed restriction for the subject property was recorded as Deed Number 2025020687.
The deed contains one restriction related to the “Use of Roads and Bridle Paths”, respectively, the fifth deed restriction. The fifth restriction states that the property owner “shall maintain and keep in repair a road leading from the premises here and described to the nearest public highway, and in consideration thereof, and for the purpose of enabling the Grantor to maintain the roads and the Del Monte Forest (of which the premises herein described are a part), the Grantee personally, and on behalf, of his family, servants and employees, hereby waives the right of free ingress and egress to and from the premises herein described, and hereby agrees to pay the Grantor on the first day of March of each and every year hereafter, the sum of Twenty-Five Dollars ($25.00); provided, however, that during each time as Grantee is the owner of a Class “A” Membership Certificate in the Monterey Peninsula Country Club”. The plain language of this deed restriction gives the property owner access to their property as long as they pay $25 each March 1st. Therefore, the project is classified as a Tier 4 category pursuant to Title 16 Chapter 16.80, which means this deed restriction language constitutes the private road agreement and the private road maintenance agreement.
The Pebble Beach Company has provided the County with a letter of blanket objection for all vacation rentals in the Pebble Beach Area. The applicant is aware of the objections and restrictions outlined within the CC&R and believes he has right to continue the use of the property for the proposed application of a Commercial Vacation Rental.
The County of Monterey’s regulations for private roads, pursuant to Title 16 section 16.80.060.A, state that if the Appropriate Authority finds, based on substantial evidence in the record, that a substantive dispute exists regarding the use of a private road for a project, the Appropriate Authority “may approve the project but shall require as a condition of project approval that the applicant provide the County with proof of access demonstrating that the dispute has been satisfactorily resolved”. Therefore, staff recommends that Condition of Approval No. 9 to ensure that the substantial dispute regarding the plain language of the private road agreement is resolved prior to the applicant commencing the use of their property as a commercial vacation rental. This Condition requires that the applicant provides the County of Monterey Housing and Community Development (HCD) staff with adequate documentation that the private road dispute has been satisfactorily resolved and the use of the property as a commercial vacation rental is allowed and does not violate the plain language of any deed restrictions and/or private road agreement.
CEQA:
The project qualifies as a categorical exemption from environmental review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15301. This exemption applies to the operation of existing private structures, involving negligible or no expansion of an existing use. The Applicant proposes to use a residential single-family dwelling for transient lodging where the term of occupancy, possession, or tenancy of the property by the person entitled to such occupancy, possession, or tenancy for a period of 30 consecutive calendar days or fewer. This project does not propose or authorize any additional exterior development and/or expansion of the existing structure currently on the project site.
The subject property will be limited to one rental contract at any given time. All facilities, as planned and approved, have been confirmed by County agencies to be adequate for this use. Therefore, the proposed use is consistent with the CEQA Guidelines section 15301. None of the exceptions under CEQA Guidelines section 15300.2 apply to this project. Additionally, there would be no significant effect on the environment due to unusual circumstances. Further, there is no evidence that “the cumulative impact of successive projects of the same type in the same place, over time is significant.” Additionally, an action is a “project” only when it is either “directly undertaken by any public agency,” “supported, in whole or in part” by financial or other forms of assistance from a public agency, or involves the issuance of an entitlement by a public agency (Public Resources Code, § 21065).
The County prepared a Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the Vacation Rental Ordinances project, which was certified by the Board on August 27, 2024 (SCH# 2022080643). The FEIR analyzed the project for environmental impacts and did not identify any significant or avoidable impacts of Commercial Vacation Rentals up to the Commercial Vacation Rental cap set for each County of Monterey Planning Area. This Commercial Vacation Rental does not exceed the cap on Commercial Vacation Rentals in the Greater Monterey Peninsula Area Plan. It would be the 25th Commercial Vacation Rental out of a maximum of 155 in the Greater Monterey Peninsula Area Plan. The FEIR did disclose that vacation rentals have the potential for negative side effects including nuisance issues such as traffic, parking and noise. County regulations have been developed and are in effect to ensure that vacation rentals remain compatible with existing residential uses and limits such nuisances in which the applicant/operator must comply with. Additionally, cumulative impacts of the regulations taken together with other past, present, and probable future projects were analyzed. There is no evidence suggesting that implementing the regulations would result in significant or unavoidable environmental impacts.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
The following agencies have reviewed the project, have comments, and/or have recommended conditions:
None
Prepared by: Kyle Benalcazar, Assistant Planner
Reviewed/Approved by: Jacquelyn M. Nickerson, Principal Planner
The following attachments are on file with HCD:
Exhibit A - Draft Resolution including:
- Recommended Conditions of Approval
- Site Plans and Floor Plans
- Operations Plan
- Home Inspection Checklist
Exhibit B - Vicinity Map
cc: Front Counter Copy; Kyle Benalcazar, Assistant Planner; Jacquelyn M. Nickerson, Principal Planner; Jeremy T and Whitney Beaver Tr, Property Owners; Interested Party List: The Open Monterey Project; LandWatch (Executive Director); Lozeau Drury LLP; Christina McGinnis, Keep Big Sur Wild; Planning File PLN250346.