Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...OAKLEY — With only one hotel in the city, Oakley is introducing a pilot program for downtown short-term rentals in order to help attract visitors and revitalize the area.
The city has allowed for short-term rentals through services such as Airbnb and Vrbo, but an ordinance adopted in 2020 limited their use to “hosted stay rentals,” where the owner must remain on site throughout the guest’s stay, said Community Development Director Ken Strelo.
The pilot program will allow up to 10 short-term rental units in the Downtown Specific Plan area along Main Street to be rented out while the owners of the property are off site. City staff had initially proposed a limit of 15, but councilmembers reduced the number to 10 before voting 4-0 on the matter during an Aug. 11 meeting. Councilmember George Fuller was absent.
“Unhosted stay and vacation rentals remain prohibited citywide in areas outside the boundaries of the Downtown Specific Plan,” Strelo told this news organization. “The introduced ordinance is expected to be adopted at the next City Council meeting and if so, will become effective on October 8, 2026.”
Senior Planner Jose Cortez said the program will provide more lodging options in the city. The council is expected to evaluate it one year after it goes into effect.
Councilmembers Anissa Williams and Shannon Shaw said they were initially hesitant to vote in favor of the program.
While Williams understood its intent, she worried it would take affordable housing options away from city residents. “By nature, the downtown area would be a more affordable place for an Oakley family to buy a house because they tend to be smaller. They’re a little bit older than some of our neighborhoods,” said Williams. “So those are the things that sort of worry me, is that we’re taking an affordable option away from people who potentially would be able to buy a house if it wasn’t sold as a vacation rental.”
Shaw worried that events at some rental properties could get “out of hand,” referring to a recent incident in the Vintage Parkway neighborhood where the police department was called to shut down a large house party at a short-term rental property.
“I want residents to know that we’re taking this kind of with kid gloves right now, making sure that this is what it’s meant to do,” said Shaw. “We only have one hotel here, so I want to start attracting people here to come see how awesome we are, and if we don’t have places for them to stay, they’re going to stay in our neighboring cities.”
The city will not allow the vacation rental properties to be used for any special events such as weddings, auctions, or commercial functions. Limousines and buses also cannot park on site.
Each vacation rental unit can only have one agreement at a time, which is intended for properties that may have an accessory dwelling unit, Cortez said.
Senate Bill 346 helps California cities require companies such as Airbnb and Vrbo to report data on rental listings, Cortez said. This would allow the city to track active listings and collect Transient Occupancy Tax from rentals, or use the data for enforcement purposes, Cortez said.