Air b&b sign sparks questions about Santa Cruz rentals

Residents in the Capitola area were upset over a large Air b&b signthat went up on a vacation rental, advertising the listing. The sign hassince come down and neighbors couldn’t be happier.38th Avenue is an area known for its beach rentals, but residents there say their neighbor took his advertisement too far.

“It just looked really cheap, it just isn’t something you should puton a house or in a neighborhood,” said neighbor, Deborah Cohen-Davis. The sign was put up Friday and quicklycaused commotion on the block.

“Maybe it was to try to draw people to want to staythere sometime but if It was me I just wouldn’t want to stay there withsomebody that would post out a sign like that,” said Davis.

Neighbors referred to the sign as an eye sore as they walked by. TheAir b&b sign promoting the rental house is now gone.The owner of the property didn’t want to talk about his choice ofinstalling that large sign above the garage or why he took itdown.

But the property owner did say he had a local artist make the sign whoovershot the dimensions and the sign ended up being too big. A neighboralso left a note in his mailbox saying he was breaking county code.The Santa Cruz county board of supervisors says the vacation rentalordinance is very clear.

“The signage can only be 12 inches by 18 inches so not very big. One foot bya half foot. And we want the information on there to say who the localcontact person is so people can deal with that person responsible formanaging the property rather than having to call the sheriffs office todeal with it,” said County Supervisor, John Leopold.

Leopold said if the sign hadn’t been taken down theproperty owner could’ve had his rental permit revoked.Most neighbors said they don’t want to see their neighbors permit get revoked, but they’re gladthe signs are gone.

“Oh it’s great, it’s great you know we’re ok with vacationrentals, most people are nice that come,” said Davis.

The big sign was only up for a couple days. The property owner said anew smaller sign is coming soon.