County Council has extended VR Moratorium for six more months

||| BY MATTHEW GILBERT, theORCASONIAN OP-ED REPORTER |||

Another large and passionate group of islanders weighed in on whether to extend/expand or end the VR moratorium and cap-setting resolution that was extended for six months on July 12 and is set to expire on January 12, 2022. Although many who spoke during Public Access Time at the Council’s December 7 meeting acknowledged that there was little more to say, that didn’t stop them from, well, saying it again – in some cases differently – though the process had more of an edge than during earlier hearings and comment periods given the impending deadline.

Let it Die
Those against the moratorium and caps in general came out strong and early. Their essential argument was that the county has had enough time to seek out more information (“All we do is keep recycling opinions”), collateral damages (e.g., impacts on housing, resource use) have not been proven, and the issue has been dividing the community while demonizing hard-working citizens and business owners.

• Only 4% of the county’s housing inventory is comprised of VRs.
• Cleaning VRs is one of our few sources of local jobs and “living wages.”
• More lodging tax dollars should be allocated to local housing solutions.
• What happens to residents who want to retire and rent their unit or part of their home as necessary income?
• Jan Scilipoti of Hosting on the Rock suggested that instead of extending the moratorium, the county set a temporary cap of 45 new permits for three years and hire an outside firm to investigate the issues.

Extend or Suffer
Supporters of an extension, who gained momentum as the hearing stretched on (ending after two hours), used the lack of impact data as reason to keep the moratorium going.

• If the (”so called”) moratorium was designed to provide answers, they have been slow in coming. We need more time to study since the county never did. In the meantime, there have been more than 50 new permit applications.
• Those with compliant permits [still] have nothing to fear.
• Those who say there is no evidence of negative impacts are wrong, but they need to be validated by an objective third party.
• Outside investors are already infiltrating downtown Eastsound. At least two commercial properties have been converted to residential but are being kept out of the housing pool because the owners are waiting for the moratorium to end so they can apply for a VR permit – assuming there is room under whatever cap the Council approves. [Note: The Council’s original recommendation was to set the cap at 1,200 – nearly twice the Planning Commission’s number.]
• Growth in VRs supports growth in tourism, and the current economy cannot be properly serviced given labor shortages, infrastructure and resource limits, and nonexistent housing, not to mention the toil on the environment.
• “I don’t want to live next to a business; I want a neighbor.” Taken from an article about the tensions over VRs in Crested Butte but capturing the spirit of several commenters.

The county is clearly not alone in trying to manage the impacts of short-term rentals, a surge in tourism, and a housing crisis on community and economic life, as numerous articles posted in this journal have indicated – from Maui to Chelan County and nearly every popular visitor destination around the world. Here in SJC, explosive growth in sales and lodging tax revenue continued through the summer. From July through September (Quarter 3), lodging tax revenue grew 26% from 2019 (which was 19% higher than 2018). Sales tax revenue for the same period increased 30% from 2019 (which was up 9% from 2018).

The County Responds
The DCD’s new director, David Williams, reported that “staffing shortages will require an additional three months to complete the legislative procedures.” He also noted that the Planning Commission, in making its recommendation to set a cap at 650, did not provide a “finding of facts” to support their decision (see “Planning Commission stands firm on a vacation rental cap of 650″)  The DCD will thus be going back to the PC in February to get those findings within a “narrow scope of discussion” – “planning speak” to make sure that other issues, however germane to the larger problem (however one defines it), are off the table. The revised schedule would find the Council holding a final public hearing in April and enacting the ordinance into law in May.

Councilman Stephens wanted to know if it was necessary to extend the moratorium to accomplish the new work plan. “Without the extension,” replied Williams, “it will open the window for a flurry of new applications on January 13” essentially grinding the process to a halt.

The Council then unanimously voted to extend the moratorium for another six months.

In the Meantime, Compliance
A drumbeat of feedback from locals has emphasized the importance of more aggressively targeting noncompliant permit holders, and the county has stepped up its efforts. For the record:

• Prior to March 18, 2018, there were 931 VR permits.
• 223 have been abandoned, leaving 708.
• 357 letters of compliance have been sent to those 708; 192 responses have come in, either abandoning their permit or complying with the ordinance.
• The process for revoking pre-2018 non-compliant permit holders is, as noted in earlier reports, “complicated,” but the county is in pursuit as resources allow.
• Since 2018, $130k in violation fines have been collected.
• Yancy Bagby, Planner II, and Code Enforcement Officer James Finn are managing the compliance program.
• Post-March 13, 2018, 159 permits have been issued. None have been abandoned; two have expired. Fifty-two (52) of them have come in since the moratorium was enacted – all of them outside UGAs, hamlets, and activity centers.