By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The Yachats City Council took its second step Wednesday in a months-long process of examining its vacation rental regulations, possibly warming up to ideas on ways to allow more licenses and transfer them.
A two-year pilot program that caps the number of vacation rental licenses at 125 and regulates their use ends Sept. 30. The council is discussing – and hearing from the public – if it should make big, small or no changes to the regulations.
Wednesday’s discussion followed a public hearing last month on the issue. Mayor John Moore said there will be more council discussions and public hearings – and “if we get to September without resolution the council can extend the ordinance.”
Several themes emerged during the 80-minute workshop:
- There appears to be little sentiment to doing away a license cap, but council members wondered if the current 125 limit should be adjusted or how the city might make more licenses available.
- There appears to be some sentiment to finding ways to allow licenses to be transferred with the sale of the property. The current ordinance does not allow that, a bone of contention with many property owners.
- The city has little data – other than the overall number of licenses it currently has (138) and amount of taxes it collects (28 percent of all lodging taxes) – leaving many unanswered questions about license use, license locations and especially how to enhance code enforcement.
The ability to transfer licenses to new owners or family members was a big issue with most people who testified at last month’s council hearing.
On Wednesday, Councilor Max Glenn suggested allowing licenses to transfer to new owners but charging a 5 percent fee on the sale of properties with licenses “because it recognizes the value of the license.” Proceeds could help fund code enforcement, he said, a big issue with many vacation rental neighbors.
Councilor James Kerti wondered about allowing people who buy property with a rental license a few months to up to a year to apply and receive a license.
“I think those ideas have merit,” Moore said. “I think some sort of solution along those lines might be beneficial …”
The discussion also veered into more complicated land-use issues.
Several council members wondered if vacation rentals should be allowed in neighborhoods zoned exclusively for single-family residences, as they currently are. Councilor Leslie Vaaler wondered if certain neighborhoods, like those along the beach or the commercial areas near downtown, be excluded from any license limits.
“It’s a difficult question because you’d have to break the town up into neighborhoods,” Vaaler said.
While the idea of more licenses in commercial areas drew support, the idea of different license levels for different neighborhoods drew objections from Moore, Glenn, Kerti and James Tooke.
“We’d be pitting neighborhood versus neighborhood,” Kerti said, adding that the city lacks the expertise or resources to tackle complex zoning issues. “The more we create case-by-case circumstances the more hardships and difficulties we create.”
Other than the amount of taxes collected, the city lacks any basic or detailed information on vacation rentals. It also has not followed through on recommendations that it more closely monitor license compliance regarding signs, landscape care, garbage, management contacts, complaint procedures and other issues that concern neighbors.
Although the city budgeted for a full-time code enforcement employee this year and has again allocated money for 2019-20, the position has been vacant or complaints handled by a one-day-a-week planner since last September.
City manager Shannon Beaucaire told the council she is looking at computer software that could help track code compliance. She’s also talked with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office about its code compliance program, or sharing someone with Waldport or other nearby cities.
Beaucaire said conversations with a company that scans the internet for vacation rental listings indicated there appeared to be 126 active licenses in Yachats. She said the company called that an “incredibly high” compliance rate given that the city has 138 licenses.
Tuesday’s workshop ended without an announced path forward, when the next discussion might be or what it might cover. But Moore indicated at the start of the meeting that it would be on council agendas throughout the summer.
“There’s a lot more information we have to gather,” Vaaler said. “It’s a balancing act … but we do have a responsibility to protect the character of the community.”
In other business the council:
- Delayed adopting its 2019-20 budget until June 19 because a required newspaper public notice was not published in time for Wednesday’s meeting.
- Agreed to discuss June 19 a study by Public Works and Streets Commission chairman Bob Bennett indicating major undercharges and some overcharges for the city’s 10 largest water customers.
- Postponed, possibly until Wednesday, a public hearing on a request by Yachats Brewing owner Nathan Bernard to forgive a portion of five months of the water bill for the building he owns at 430 N. Highway 101 because a city contractor created a waterline leak while excavating for the U.S. Highway 101 project.
Previous or related stories:
May 9: Yachats begins process of examining 2-year-old ordinance
May 15: Testimony to Yachats council calls for license transfers and more code enforcement
May 30: Lincoln County looks at tighter vacation rental rules