||| FROM ISLAND STEWARDS |||
San Juan County (SJC) Council will be continuing an online public hearing on Tuesday, March 9 to discuss whether the moratorium on the issuance of Vacation Rental Permits should be maintained or abandoned.
ACTION ITEMS
Read the updated announcement regarding this hearing by the Vacation Rental Working Group. (Considerable opposition to the moratorium unexpectedly emerged at the 23 Feb hearing: most opposition is from San Juan Island.)
MOST IMPORTANTLY
How To Participate in this hearing: (SJC announcement re 23 Feb hearing)
Send a letter to the County Council: councilpc@sanjuanco.com
Sign up to testify on-line (need ideas for what to say? see the comments that other signers have left)
A new group entitled Hosting on the Rock opposes the moratorium. Read their outreach
BACKGROUND
Visit VacationRentalsOrcas.org for a comprehensive explanation of the public concern about over-tourism and the negative impacts of Vacation Rentals in the County. Since summer 2019, over 3000 individuals have signed a change.org petition to request a moratorium on the issuance of new Vacation Rental Permits. Washington State’s Growth Management Act (GMA) does not require that a county consider the impact of visitors in long range planning or in a county’s Comprehensive Plan (CP). (There is no GMA prohibition to regulate visitor impacts.) SJC is currently in the process of updating its CP.
A presentation in January 2021 reviews big picture issues regarding the county’s population future (i.e., locals and visitors). For a deeper dive, see KeepSanJuansWild.org
