The Manteca City Council has made it clear that they don’t want to allow party houses in Manteca.

And how they go about doing that may be decided on Tuesday when they consider pursuing one of two different approaches — outlawing short-term house rentals outright or putting in place municipal restrictions on such use.

The potential for city regulations surfaced after the city experienced a spike of noise and traffic complaints from neighbors of short term rentals advertised on popular Internet platforms such as Airbnb.

The most egregious was the rental of a home for two weeks for a series of parties leading up to a wedding. The renters and their guests played loud music, jammed neighborhood streets with cars and even drank beer and liquor in the neighborhood park across the street in violation of municipal ordinances.

The council two weeks ago when the issue of short term rentals came up also referenced a party house shooting in  mid-July  that sent seven people to the hospital with gunshot wounds. The Vrbo short-term rental housing listing just outside the city limits was on Woodward Avenue.

Short-term rentals that are 30 days or less aren’t addressed in the city’s municipal code which means they are not allowed. That said there is no enforcement mechanism in place.

Based on council consensus staff has prepared two possible courses of action for the council to consider when they meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.

One is an outright ban.

Suggestions to effectively enforce it include the triggering of violations not only on renting the property but advertising property for rent as a short-term rental. The other is to require hosting platforms to report properties within the city limits on a regular basis or risk being fined.

Starting Jan. 1, 2022 state law allows cities putting short term rental ordnances in place to have fines of $1,500 for the first offense, $3,000 for the second offense within a calendar year, and $5,000 for the third and subsequent offenses within the first year of a violation.

If the council opts to allow such rentals they can put in place restrictions aimed at reducing nuisance conditions such as noise, overuse, and inappropriate use of the property such as for party houses or events, disorderly conduct, overcrowding, illegal parking and such.

They could restrict rentals to owner occupied homes that are the primary residences of the owners.

The city could also limit the number of days per year a property can be rented to assure the owner maintains it as their primary residence.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com