Encinitas is not ready to roll out the welcome mat for quick-hit vacation stays just yet.
At last Wednesday's meeting, the Encinitas City Council voted 3-2 to keep the city’s three-night minimum stay for non-owner-occupied vacation rentals, brushing aside a state-recommended shift to a two-night rule. The close call keeps the stricter limit in place for whole-home short-term rentals in neighborhoods west of Interstate 5 and leaves the city’s Local Coastal Program amendment hanging without final certification. Residents who have long pushed for tighter controls celebrated the move, even as several council members made it clear the fight over vacation rental rules is far from over.
Councilmember Luke Shaffer said he could not back a California Coastal Commission requirement for a two-night minimum and argued that “three nights is absolutely where the city needs to be,” a stance that helped shape the outcome. Councilmembers Bruce Ehlers and Joy Lyndes voted against keeping the three-night standard and said they would go along with a two-night minimum only if the city could lock in an overall cap on vacation rentals and require 200-foot spacing between non-owner-occupied units. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the final tally was 3-2.
State Tweak Meets Local Pushback
The California Coastal Commission signed off on the city’s Local Coastal Program amendment on Feb. 5, but suggested a key edit that would drop the minimum stay for non-hosted rentals to two nights. That change cannot take effect unless the city adopts matching language in its own ordinance and the commission signs off on the updated LCP.
Coastal Commission staff later asked for more time to adopt revised findings, a procedural move that has effectively paused the process and left room for additional negotiation and public comment, according to the California Coastal Commission.
How Encinitas Got Its Rules
Encinitas adopted its current short-term rental framework in late 2022. Those rules capped vacation rentals at 2.5% of the city’s single-family housing stock and at 4% within individual communities, and they added a 200-foot buffer requirement for non-owner-occupied units. All of those limits remain on the books.
City staff drafted new ordinance language, labeled Ordinance No. 2026-08, to fold the Coastal Commission’s requested changes into Title 30 of the municipal code, according to the City of Encinitas.
How Many Rentals and Who Is Watching
Data from Coastal Commission staff show roughly 443 permitted short-term rentals in Encinitas, of which about 350 are non-hosted. Most are clustered west of Interstate 5. Officials and local reporting estimate that another 200 or so short-term rentals may be operating without permits.
Staff told the council they plan to step up enforcement against unpermitted listings in the coming months and warned that demand for vacation rentals could climb ahead of major regional events such as the 2028 Olympics. The permit counts come from the Coastal Commission report, while the enforcement plans and unpermitted unit estimates were reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Councilmembers directed staff to return with revised ordinance language, and the city has opened a public review window for the proposed Local Coastal Program amendments, running from April 14 through May 26. That gives residents several weeks to weigh in before any final vote.
If the council ultimately approves ordinance language that matches the Coastal Commission’s suggested modifications, Encinitas will send the changes back to the state for certification. Until that happens, the three-night minimum stays in place while state officials, city staff, and residents continue to haggle over the fine print and how aggressively to police rentals that break the rules.
