When considering a major decision, especially one that affects the lives and livelihoods of many others, it is wise to consider what could happen in a worst case scenario. What might be the unintended consequences?
It is rare that a worst case scenario occurs, but it can happen. For example, the decisions of the city of Yachats and other coastal communities to limit the number of tourists by reducing the number of vacation rentals available. What would happen if this was taken to the extreme – if there were no vacation rentals at all? Now we know.
The obvious effect is that it blows a big hole in the local government budgets. Without tourist taxes, who will pay for our sewage treatment plant? Or long needed improvements to the water supply? Or the proposed remodel of the former bank building into a new City Hall? It is easy to run a local government during the fat times. But a village can’t run a deficit nor walk away from its obligations. Without tourists and their dollars, it all lands on the back of us property owners.
Unintended consequences include what happens to local businesses. Most of those who voted to limit vacation rentals weren’t around during the Great Recession of 2008 or in 2014 when a landslide closed U.S. Highway 101 near Sea Lion Caves for months. They weren’t here when our grocery store closed, along with several restaurants, pubs, shops, and several large building developments died. These last two months have shown us what happens when the housekeepers, restaurant staff, and gardeners are suddenly unemployed.
Those disasters, like Covid-19, were caused by outside events. What Yachats is now doing to its tourist trade with its crackdown on vacation rentals is self destructive. The Gem of the Oregon Coast is turning its back on its loyal revenue stream. Customers once lost are hard to attract again.
There simply aren’t enough permanent residents in our tiny village to support the amenities we are accustomed to. We are dependent on the tourist trade to help support the infrastructure we all enjoy. So next time a stranger says hello in the grocery store or the Green Salmon, please smile and thank them for visiting. Otherwise you might end up driving to Waldport for a quart of milk or a cuppa joe.
— Douglas Cochrane, Yachats
I support Mr. Cochrane’s opinion. I bought a lot in Yachats many years ago with the intent of building a house and living in Yachats eight months per year during the fall and winter, and renting it out short term during the spring and summer. Yachats was to be our retirement spot. However, with the current City Council’s vacation rental restrictions, my plan is not financially viable.
By my not building, the city loses out on revenue through property taxes, food and beverage taxes paid by myself and guests, vacation rental taxes, water/sewer fees, permit fees, etc. Local businesses lose vital income, and while short term, jobs related to the construction itself.
Some may be happy I am moving on to maintain their village as-is.However, next time there are concerns coming from City Hall about budgetary constraints; remember the decisions made by the council over the past year or so.
As someone who lives in my home year round here in Yachats. I am glad that we have not had a big influx of visitors here.
Our county does not have robust testing in place even now. Last I checked it was a 1% testing rate. This means we aren’t even aware of how many actual cases there are in our county. There are more important things, like our health, than a few people profiting from their short term rental homes. You do need to be aware that a percentage of people visiting from out of the area may be asymptomatic carriers. When visitors from more infected areas shop in our stores, especially the grocery store, and congregate here they can expose local workers, and our community to infection. Long term rentals are still very much in demand here. Perhaps vacation rentals should be used to actually provide needed housing here.