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


On June 9, the San Juan Islands Community Network (SJICN) hosted a Zoom panel on the subject of vacation rentals, the first in a three-part series focusing on Discovery, Common Ground, and Collaborative Action. Panel members included County Commissioner Jamie Stephens; Hosting on the Rock representative Jan Scilipoti; Vacation Rental Working Group (VRWG) member Toby Cooper; and Doug Whitaker of Confluence Research and Consulting, which recently carried out an extensive study of tourism in the county. More than 80 people were in attendance.

As someone who has written extensively on this topic, I heard few breakthrough moments as most of these issues have been thoroughly debated. The primary purpose of the meeting was to “identify areas of common ground through conversation,” and in that spirit, there was much agreement on what those issues are. Perhaps more importantly, there was also a growing recognition that the issue of VR regulation might be a distraction from a larger set of issues having to do with island capacity and quality of life.

A Wary Council Participates

At their weekly Tuesday meeting, County Commissioner Jamie Stephens took great pains to explain his thinking in agreeing to participate in a forum that took commissioners by surprise. “I wanted to make sure there is a county voice. . . as we have seen in the past, some of this information gets conflated and not corroborated. The press release is much different – much more expansive – than what I thought the focus would be.”

“I, too, was surprised,” said Christine Minney. “My feelings echo Jamie’s. I see the importance of having a county voice there.”

“I was originally concerned by the scope (as per the press release),” added Wolf. “The program is presenting itself as a deliberative, problem-solving process. I don’t want it to be perceived that the county is obligated to any kind of conclusions drawn by this panel. I’m glad that Councilman Stephens will be there. I just want to be sure he’s representing our views and not his.

“This feels like it has been set up as a community negotiation,” she continued. “Other than Mr. Whitaker, who I do not know, we’ve already heard from these folks. I don’t want to step outside our process, but I do think it’s good for citizens to be talking about this issue.”

Stephens assured the council that he would only be representing the county’s current position. “We aren’t there to negotiate or make promises. I will tell them what we are planning to do . . . which is working on caps through the moratorium and addressing issues of density and saturation in the Comp Plan.”

Impact Management

The make-up of the panel ensured that the many sides of regulating VRs would be heard, albeit to the extent that four people are able to represent an entire county. Cooper opened with an emphasis on three issues: proliferation, on-site behavior, and resource use. Scilipoti wanted to make sure that VR owners (of which she is one) “have a voice in what’s happening in the county,” adding “I agree with Toby! We’re all aware of these problems. There are still a lot of noncompliant VRs, and there isn’t enough enforcement.” As for Cooper’s third point, “We need good statistics here.”

Whitaker, whose company specializes in “visitor impact management” and capacity issues, wasn’t convinced that targeting VRs was the right approach. “Tourism is an endless issue in protected areas,” he said. Speaking to the research he did in the county, “there was a lot of agreement among visitors re: what they want and also between visitors and locals, including businesses” – more so than his firm has seen in other studies. [see “SJC Tourism Study finally released: Big challenges – tough choices.”] The biggest issue, he said, was the total number of all accommodations, both rental and resident. “It’s the ultimate controlling factor” regarding impacts.

“Regardless of the total number of VRs,” said Stephens, “density is the issue. . . . And we need to agree on what we know. Passion has no place when it comes to making regulations.” Referring to his own dig into the numbers, he said that nearly all VRs on Orcas are locally owned. “And since the moratorium, only five new VRs have been permitted on San Juan and two on Orcas. Each year, new and abandoned permits tend toward ‘net zero.’”

The Bigger Picture

It was no surprise that panelists agreed that there needs to be stronger enforcement, a sweep of non-permitted (“black market”) rentals, and more education about what is already in place as far as what it takes to get a permit and what can be done about bad players. There also needs to be “finer distinctions” between the various owner groups (local, off-island, owner-occupied) to inform more appropriate solutions. The extent to which the county is motivated and/or resourced to carry out these actions isn’t yet clear.

Whitaker again emphasized the need to “be wary of generalizing. Not all impacts are connected to VRs. It’s about all the people who come to the islands, not just the ones who use VRs. What constitutes too many people or too many cars? A moratorium only gets you part of the way there.”


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