Supervisors vote on vacation rentals, fireworks citations and $325,000 for Mecca
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) – The Riverside County Board of Supervisors took up three items Tuesday that hit the Coachella Valley: new vacation rental rules, results from this year’s fireworks crackdown, and $325,000 for a Mecca sports park.
Vacation RentalsSupervisors today tentatively approved a series of adjustments to the Riverside County ordinance regulating short-term rentals in unincorporated communities, as well as formally ending a roughly 16-month moratorium on the issuance of STR certificates in B-Bar H Ranch and Thousand Palms.
The board on Tuesday held the first of two public hearings on amendments sought by the Transportation & Land Management Agency to Ordinance
After taking public testimony over a nearly two-hour span, the supervisors voted 5-0 to accept most of the modifications — and directed TLMA to make several other revisions that they wanted regarding citations after listening to speakers.
“This has taken too long. I’m really just out of patience,” Supervisor Chuck Washington said before casting his vote. “Here we are still trying to find the recipe for the magic sauce. People have trusted us to get them the peace and quiet they deserve in their communities. Now we’re tweaking this ordinance more. We’ve got to be results-oriented.”
Until Tuesday, the STR ordinance hadn’t undergone significant changes since it was formally implemented in 2022.
On his and Perez’s motion, the board voted to revise the numbers to three citations leading to suspension, and five citations triggering revocation proceedings. They also directed TLMA to model the publicly accessible electronic complaint platform to match what San Bernardino County has, enablingpeople to view locations of STR complaints and read what, if any, actions have been taken by officers.
The approved change to officers’ hours of service and deployment to handle STR complaints will ensure two code representatives are on duty at the agency’s Palm Desert and San Jacinto offices 7 a.m. to midnight Thursday to Sunday, when complaint volume is highest. Previously, officers were off the clock by 10 p.m.
Another change eliminates the current “60-minute self-correction window” that has, up to now, permitted STR owners to address complaints themselves within an hour. Instead, TLMA now will have enforcement officers go directly to locations where complaints have been lodged and attempt “knock and talk” tactics that immediately make parties aware of noise, obstruction and related problems.
Notices, or administrative citations, will be issued where complaints are documented under the new changes. This will establish a gradual process for ticketing violators. However, under an “urgent circumstance,” where there’s a public health or similar issue, the noticing will be dispensed with inpreference to immediate suspension of an STR certificate and a cease-and-desist order mandating that actions be taken to correct the offense forthwith.
The last part of Tuesday’s hearing involved termination of a temporary moratorium on STR issuances within the eastern Coachella Valley communities of B-Bar H Ranch and Thousand Palms. The moratorium was declared in April 2025, after a surge in boisterous parties at vacation rental properties throughout the areas, where there are a combined total of 59 STR properties.
However, during the Coachella Valley’s most popular fests — Coachella Music & Arts Festival and Stagecoach Music Festival, both in April — and in the two months following, less than a dozen complaints were fielded, and only one citation was issued, TLMA said, adding that the data supported a proposal to end the moratorium. The board agreed.
A vote to formally adopt the revisions is slated for Aug. 25.
FireworksOfficers issued 212 citations over the Fourth of July weekend, up 22% from last year, and seized more than 2,000 pounds of illegal fireworks, according to City News Service, which reviewed the county’s after-action report.
In an unanimous vote without comment, the board filed the Executive Office’s “After-Action Report,” which showed that, compared to the same period last year, there was a 22% jump in the number of citations issued — 212 this past July 4 weekend, as opposed to 172 in 2025.
Those figures combine the aggregate citations handled by the county Sheriff’s, Fire and Code Enforcement departments.
The number of 911 fireworks-related calls for service and complaints also rose — 3,776 during the holiday weekend this year, compared to 3,696 last year, according to the narrative.
Authorities confiscated 2,105 pounds of alleged illegal pyrotechnics during operations earlier this month, a drop from last year, when 2,194 pounds were seized over the same period, the report stated.
County fire personnel were sent to 69 fireworks-related blazes during the most recent holiday weekend, a one-third drop from 2025, when they responded to 102 fires, officials said.
Fines in unincorporated areas run $1,000 to $5,000.
Mecca Sports ParkThe county signed off on a $325,000 allocation to support a project at the Mecca Sports Park, enabling the addition of amenities intended to enhance the space.
In a 5-0 vote without comment Tuesday, the board authorized the Riverside County Executive Office to make the appropriation from the Unincorporated Communities Initiative Fund. An agreement between the county and Desert Recreation District, stipulating how the money can be used, was additionally approved by the board.
Under the new funding agreement, if contractors hired by the Desert Recreation District are unable to complete the project by June 30, 2027, the district must return any unspent county funds.
The park opened in October 2023, built for about $6.7 million most of it a $5.8 million state grant.
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