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

As reported last week, the county Planning Commission (PC) has unanimously agreed to recommend that the County Council enact a moratorium on new vacation rental permits starting next year. The proposal (not yet formalized) addresses several issues:

  • Establish a moratorium on new VR permits.
  • Limit the number to existing permits at date of adoption.
  • Any cap and new regulations should not impact current permit holders.
  • Establish a cap by island and by smaller geographic areas (e.g., neighborhood).
  • Look at options that prevent VR permits to “run with the land.”
  • Establish new codes to make enforcement easier.

The commission’s decision followed a preliminary discussion at their September 2020 meeting that was prompted by an August Planning Department memo. (See also the Eastsound Planning Review Committee’s (EPRC) response to that memo.) Knowing of the Planning Department’s intention to add new policy guidelines for managing VRs to the Comprehensive Plan, the decision by the commission to endorse a moratorium was further driven by three concerns:

A tangle of issues. As summarized by new commission member Sheila Gaquin from Orcas, “Much is still unclear: an acceptable number of overnight guests, limiting corporate ownership, transferring permits . . . we need a moratorium so we can straighten all this out and give the department time to catch up on enforcement.”

A sense of urgency. Planner Adam Zack explained that, “Implementation of new policies and code changes would have to wait until final CP adoption . . . maybe by the end of next year (ish).” He added, “We can [enact a moratorium] faster than adopting a code change or approving the Comp Plan.”

Enforcement challenges. As previously reported, there is no easy or quick way for the county to take legal actions against non-compliant VR owners – essentially penalizing those in compliance. (Out of 963 “active” permits, 360 are currently non-compliant.) There are also constraints on available budgeting and staffing.

Other issues were raised, including whether to replace the current permitting process with a business licensing approach and clarifying the regulatory differences between vacation rentals and bed & breakfasts – both of which could be addressed during a moratorium.

A Not-so-Brief History
This issue of a moratorium while working on strategies to better manage short-term vacation rentals has been front-and-center throughout 2020 and since a group of more than 200 Orcas Islanders met in July 2019 to begin identifying the impacts of vacation rentals on housing, rural character, the economy, infrastructure, and services (and indicated overwhelming support for a moratorium).

The County Council has had little interest in pursuing a moratorium despite consistent pressure from the public as well as statements of support submitted by the EPRC and Deer Harbor Planning and Review Committee. At a meeting on November 8, 2019, Council members explained their resistance:

Rick Hughes: “I appreciate those who don’t agree with a moratorium, who have questioned a process that has given less space to those in opposition. But until we can find new and more ways to bring more revenue to our community, we’ll keep doing code enforcement and let the new 2019 VR ordinance (No. 02-2018) play out. The 60+ permits we issue next year will likely be offset by the same number of out-of-compliance units getting their permits revoked.”

Jamie Stephens: “We spent 18 months trying to tweak the current regulations and it’s generating a lot of fines. There are also ways to deal with bad neighbors, though property tax statements make it hard to identify off- and on-island owners.”

Bill Watson: “I’ve heard a lot of urgency, but you’re about a year late. We’ve been proactive. We looked at every issue for 18 months, had public hearings (with little public input), and came up with a fair and balanced group of new regulations . . . We serve at your discretion, but regarding this issue, we are ahead of the ball.”

The Vacation Rental Working Group Steering Committee (that organized the public meetings on Orcas and later on the other islands) responded the next month by submitting to the Council a four-page memo outlining a number of specific recommendations and options. At the monthly Council meeting on Orcas in February of 2020, Charles Toxey, representing the EPRC, stated that “The county’s compliance efforts are a good first step, but they still fall short, such as controlling the total number of VRs.” He then explained that the EPRC proposes two tiers of VR ownership (along with a number of regulatory goals such as density limits, permit wait times, and permit expiration upon sale of property):

  • Home stay/share (The property owner lives on site.)
  • Off-site ownership (The owner doesn’t live on site.)

The vast majority of the 100 people who attended and spoke at the meeting favored a moratorium.

The Housing Element of the Comp Plan was subsequently expanded to include issues pertinent to the impacts of VRs. For example, it identified the rise in the proportion of VRs relative to all new dwelling units and predicted 1,500 – 2,000 permitted vacation rentals in the county by 2036. It also noted that “the median assessed value for properties with vacation rental permits is $483,905, which is approximately $200k higher than the maximum affordable home price for a household of four,” concluding that, “vacation rentals are not necessarily depleting the stock of housing affordable for San Juan County residents.” [While also assuming that such housing can only be bought, not rented.]

New Council, New Decision?
Given this history and the Planning Commission’s recommendation, how will the new Council respond? It will be one of the first big decisions of their time working together, and it’s hard to know what to expect. Stephens has said little on the topic in the previous months. Incoming council member Cindy Wolf responded to The Orcasonian’s District 2 candidate question regarding “tourism’s mixed blessing” by stating that

“The problem, as I see it, are vacation rental owners who view the islands as an investment opportunity rather than as a year-round community. The proliferation of vacation rentals shrinks year-round rental stocks, drives up real estate prices, and prices the middle class out of our market. Permits should be issued to the owner, not the property, and expire when a house changes hands.”

She later responded to a campaign question about tourism’s impacts from an association of groups composed of Community Rights San Juan Islands, Friends of the San Juans, and the Madrona Institute by saying

“We have the ability, through smart planning decisions about lodging and transportation, to manage visitor numbers and significantly reduce the environmental impact of tourism on the islands, while still allowing guests to enjoy time here.”

To that same question, Christine Minney replied

“I recognize the sense of urgency that many residents have to stem the tide of tourism or at the very least make it a more reasonable element in its burden on residents lives as well as its environmental impacts. To say that we have the ability to limit tourism seems fallible, but our ability to find ways that make tourism work better for the greater good is reasonable and certainly possible.”

The final shape of the proposed moratorium – along with next steps for getting to that point – is still to be determined. Its length, specific deliverables, the nature of the decision-making process, and potential impacts on other planning projects are all on the table.


 

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