Sebastopol HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

Vacation rental rules are in Municipal Code section 17.260.060. The city defines a vacation rental as the rental of a private residence for 30 days or less. It allows hosted rentals with a permit. It discourages non-hosted, full-time rentals and requires a conditional use permit for any new one. Staff can approve two types with an administrative permit:

• The owner or an agent must be reachable by phone 24 hours a day while the home is rented.
• An ADU built after July 1, 2017 may not be a vacation rental without a conditional use permit.
• Vacation rentals need a business license and are subject to the city’s transient occupancy tax.

Ask Planning at (707) 823-6167 about the permit for a particular home. A city permit does not override your CC&Rs. If your documents restrict short stays, the association enforces that itself.

Sebastopol’s ADU rules are in Municipal Code Chapter 17.220. Review is ministerial: staff check the plans against the standards and there is no public hearing. The main points in section 17.220.020:

• On a single-family lot the code allows an ADU, a junior ADU and a detached new ADU of up to 800 square feet.
• On a lot with existing multifamily housing it allows up to eight detached ADUs, as long as they do not outnumber the existing units, plus one attached ADU for every four existing units.
• ADUs have no parking requirement.
• ADUs on multifamily parcels may not be rented for less than 30 days.

The multifamily allowance matters to condominium and townhome boards. Read your documents with your attorney before you answer an application.

Two chapters of the Municipal Code cover the questions boards ask most:

Both rules are written for public streets and city lots. If your association owns its streets, parking is governed mainly by your own rules and by state towing law. On public streets, the city sends reports of vehicles parked over 72 hours and RV parking to the Police Department at (707) 829-4400.

Sebastopol runs its own water utility. The city says its water is produced by a series of wells located throughout the city and stored in two reservoir facilities. Wastewater is piped to the City of Santa Rosa’s subregional treatment system.

Drought rules are in Municipal Code Chapter 13.06, the Water Shortage Contingency Plan. It sets six stages, and the City Council starts and ends a stage by resolution. The city’s water pages do not state which stage, if any, applies today, so call Public Works at (707) 823-5331 before you change planting or irrigation.

The only rebate on the city’s utilities page is for toilets: a one-time $150 credit on the water and sewer bill for replacing a toilet that uses 3.5 or 7 gallons per flush, or $75 for replacing a 1.6-gallon toilet with one that uses 1.3 gallons or less. Only models on the Sonoma County Water Agency’s list qualify, an inspection is required and funding is limited. The application is written for property owners, so ask the Building Department at (707) 823-8597 whether an association account qualifies.

Tree rules are in Municipal Code Chapter 8.12. The threshold depends on the kind of property, and diameter is measured four and a half feet above the ground.

Protected native species include coast live oak, valley oak, black oak, madrone, bigleaf maple, California bay and coast redwood. No permit is needed to prune less than one-third of the crown, or to remove a tree that city staff find is dead, extremely diseased or an immediate danger.

The code does not mention association common area. A condominium or townhome board should assume the 10-inch threshold and the Tree Board hearing apply until Planning says otherwise. Call (707) 823-6167 before any removal.

Each application carries a fee of $75 per required replacement tree, refunded if the applicant plants at least two 15-gallon trees from the city’s list.

Municipal Code Chapter 8.56 makes weeds the owner’s job. Section 8.56.030 says no owner or person in control of a lot may let weeds remain on the property or on the sidewalk and strip out to the curb line. That covers association common area too.

The 2025 season shows how the process runs. The staff report took the weed resolution to the council on May 20, set the hearing for owners for June 17 and gave July 30 as the date after which a contractor would clear remaining lots. Owners are billed for the work plus administrative costs. Dates are set each year, so confirm the current ones.

The city’s Fire Department page now says the Gold Ridge Fire Protection District provides city fire services, after the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission approved the reorganization in 2025. Call Gold Ridge at (707) 823-1084 with fire prevention questions.

The council adopted the City of Sebastopol Fire Hazard Severity Zones map by Ordinance 1157 on June 17, 2025. The staff report says about 322 acres of the city are in the Moderate zone and no part is in the High or Very High zone. It adds that properties in those two zones carry extra defensible space and sale disclosure duties.

Sebastopol’s noise ordinance is Municipal Code Chapter 8.25. Section 8.25.060 sets the limits:

Contractors working in your community should keep to the daytime hours. An association that wants shorter hours or quieter equipment can write its own rule. The city sends residential noise complaints to the Police Department at (707) 829-4400 and construction noise complaints to the Building Department at (707) 823-8597.