— from David Turnoy —
Dear County Council Members Hughes, Stephens, and Watson:
I am a resident and homeowner on Orcas Island writing to you today about the vacation rental issue. As I am sure you are aware, more vacation rentals are becoming available each year, especially here on Orcas Island. While this has brought economic benefits to some people, there are also problems that need to be addressed. I encourage you to place a moratorium on vacation rentals until this issue has been fully studied and recommendations can be implemented.
I have a vacation rental next door to me on the west, there is another vacation rental two doors down to the east, and my immediate neighbor to the east has told us that he is looking to rent out his main house as a vacation rental. He even plans to put in a hot tub that will be right across from our deck. We live in a residential neighborhood, but this will leave us as the only house out of four in our immediate area that is not a vacation rental. While we have met some nice visitors, this kind of shuffling of new people in and out prevents the possibility of creating a relationship with one’s neighbors, reducing the chance of creating community.
Our proximity to vacation rentals has brought to light a number of problems. Earlier this year I had to walk next door to tell the people out on the deck late at night in our extremely quiet neighborhood that they were being too loud. They didn’t seem to realize that their fairly loud voices were quite audible to anyone in the neighborhood. By the same token, some groups pack up to catch the early ferry, and of course they make considerable noise with their talking outside early in the morning when we may still be asleep.
We also have to contend with vacationers walking across our property to go from the vacation rental next door to the one that their friends are staying in two doors down, and vice versa. Then there was the time that my wife heard noise behind our house, and she looked out only to see two little children “riding” our propane tank as if it was a horse. And there was the time the septic alarm went off because the vacationers had used too much water. These visitors all drive cars on our private roads, and because they don’t live here, they frequently drive faster than is safe.
Water is a limited resource on our island. Every time a new group of vacationers stays in a rental, sheets and towels need to be washed. Also, the number of people staying is often greater than a long-term rental; families often rent a house together, or a large group of people attending a wedding will all stay in the house. This uses more water than would otherwise be used.
I voted for all three of you county councilors the last time you ran for office. I am sure you do not want our island to become another tourist mecca where the quality of life is lost. Therefore, I encourage you to impose a moratorium so that this problem can be studied and dealt with before the problem becomes even more overwhelming with a greater number of vacation rentals. I thank you for taking the time to read this letter and to consider the points I have brought up.
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Well said, David. You inspire me to get busy and write. Thank you.
Thank you David! I will also get to work and write to our representatives.
Dear Rick, Jamie and Bill,
If you don’t pay heed to these wise and thoughtful words, I will make sure that you wish you had.
Thank you for such a thoughtful and civil letter!!
David, appreciate the simple clarity of your single experience..
Many of us islanders have experienced the positive and unfortunately the negative implications of vacation rentals.
As a construction worker I can share that many homes under construction are defaulting to this situation. By design or otherwise. A simple question or maybe better yet observation would be.. why not.. (is there in fact any thing is place that limits this currently. I know there are CC&R’s in some of our neighborhoods, yet this problem persists and neighborhoods become torn with none complaint individuals. So the neighbor becomes the bad person just asking for compliance..
Like many things, there are local individuals that have mastered the craft of vacation rentals. My definition of mastering is, not displacing or causing inappropriate wear and tear on neighbors and uphold a light footprint in their presence and occupation.
But unfortunately, we are seeing a distant connection of numbers that exhaust what should be, people enjoying the beautiful tranquility this Island and community affords.
Let us hope that our Governance gets ahead of this issue before it’s paricidic.. we are intelligent people right.. It serves no one to have less..
There appears to be some incentive created by local realtors to homeowners looking to sell a property to apply for a VR license to enable prospective buyers to get max return on their investment. As with carbon taxes, opioid, tobacco, and future gunmaker settlements, there is a fair price to be levied against future harms inflicted on the community, not just as payments to government coffers.
It would be enough to give pause to future VR applications, including the option to make such licenses of limited duration and open to review of said harms, as well as subject to a lottery balancing these harms across the entire community. As it is, evaluation of harm/benefit is left up to those who benefit from this destructive windfall, who by definition no longer live in these affected neighborhoods, if they ever did.
Limiting VR license duration on a rotating basis would also limit the building of new structures solely to use as vacation rentals, as they would have to return to the pool of regular rentals periodically, forcing a reassessment of the owner’s responsibility to the community’s larger interests. The monetary costs levied could be used to subsidise housing of regular rentals.
We need to have a County wide study as to how vacation rentals affect our County.
If the County continues to approve most vacation rentals applications without limitations, then the Council Members totally disregards the negative impacts that the vacation rentals have on our rural community.
If there are neighborhood disturbance problems, the
County Code Enforcement Officer(s) need to address it.
The water usage argument is a straw man. If the short term renters were in hotels and regular bed and breakfast establishments, there would be just as much water usage for sheets and towels, showers, food services, etc.
A prior article on this site noted that NOT all VR’s are being used/filled. If so, than why is a moratorium needed, since approving more would just spread out the business to more sites and not necessarily increase visitors and with more choices, a neighborhood might actually get quieter?
If the data shows that 100%of VR’s are being rented with demand for more, that would be a different issue, and it is possible that’s just what a careful review would show. But if it’s less than 100% why shouldn’t all residents have the same money making opportunity in a fair and democratic society? By requiring permitting and taxing of VR’s, Orcas can easily know exactly how many days of rentals there are and use this number to drive public policy. Adding say a 25% per day/per person tax on VR’s would drive down use while helping to pay for things like roads and water. Government fees/taxation is easy to implement and less controversial than moratoria.
Certainly, anyone who is trespassing or breaking a noise restriction should be reported and arrested and face the full force of the law; Orcas has an excellent police force quite able to meet this need. And, fines can supplement the economy as well.
Not sure I understand the “community” angle as if the homes weren’t rented they would be empty, so that’s not more of a community, just more isolation (which I understand is what some people desire.)
If there were a rule that an owner had to live in the home a minimum of 75% of the days of a year you would get a community. As an example, NYC requires 51% occupancy for rent controlled apartments; financially a person must reside there or face a severe financial penalty, so occupancy remains high as a result of a policy backed by financial consequences.
Mr. T, I and my family are right there with you. We have vacation rentals on all four sides of us next door. We never know who our neighbor is, and have a hot tub at one right below our deck with parties all night. Our dogs go crazy, regularly in the middle of the night. I stand behind and fully endorse your letter.
County Council members, please heed David Turnoy’s thoughtful words.
Dan, your comments seemingly defy logic and do not in any way attribute themselves to the root causes of the problem.
You say, “If there are neighborhood disturbance problems, the County Code Enforcement Officer(s) need to address it.”
In spite of the lip service we continue to get from the county regarding what they refer to as their increased enforcement of short term vacation rentals (STVRs), the enforcement of noise abatement created by an ever-increasing number of STVRs is non-existent. It’s like trying to regulate the amount of roadside litter while at the same time dramatically increasing the number of tourists.
You say, “The water usage argument is a straw man. If the short term renters were in hotels and regular bed and breakfast establishments, there would be just as much water usage for sheets and towels, showers, food services, etc.”
Though you may be correct in your assertion that the average STR would use the same amount of resources (water in this case) if they were staying in a hotel or a BnB– the fact is Dan, that they’re not. That is, they’re not staying in a hotel or BNB. The fact is that if there wern’t hundreds of active listings on Airbnb and the other STR platforms… they wouldn’t be here. In a world of too many people the terms over-population, over-tourism, and over-consumption go hand-in-hand, and are commonly recognized as the root problem of over-extraction (among others). Tourism is now, arguably, the largest industry in the world, and SJC in it’s short-term wisdom is allowing an ever-increasing trend of VRs in spite of the known downsides to the industry. The phrase, “The emperor wears no clothes” comes to mind.
I’m curious, Michael, whether you’ve actually made any complaints about a VR since the new enforcement officer started? I found him very responsive.
Michael, If a tourist is attracted to visit Orcas and can’t find an Airbnb, the logical thing would be to find accommodations at hotels, inns, regular bed and breakfasts, resorts and campgrounds.
Or maybe the County could put a moratorium on all types of accommodations. Then, with the scarcity places to stay, of all the current establishments could jack up their prices. With the resulting wealthier visitors, higher prices for restaurants, groceries, gas, and other tourist activities would follow. I don’t think that’s what the anti vacation rental group had in mind.
We are a couple, 2 physicians in their 60’s considering retiring to Orcas. We have visited Orcas many times, spent lots of money, made minimal noise, donated to the library, churches, and museum. We have stayed in one Air BNB’s, one VR as well as hotels multiple times. We have made friends there and stay in touch from the east coast. Why the animus toward people like us? We too are one type of tourist…
Neil– Study of Socioeconomic Impacts of Growth Pressure in Selected Seasonal/Resort Communities (Compares San Juan County to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. May 2000)
And feel the need to participate frequently in local political discourse though you have never actually lived here….
Susan and Neil–please ignore the haters. We did the same as you, and we’ve been here now for almost 15 years. So have thousands of others. As it happens, if all the tourists went away, so would a majority of the restaurants and retail establishments and the jobs that people depend on. Some people simply are incapable of dealing with complex issues.