By KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNews
During its first open discussion on vacation rental license caps in nearly two years, Lincoln County commissioners Wednesday considered buffers to lower the density of rentals even though doing so would require changing the original ordinance.
Commissioners adopted Ordinance 523 in October 2021, significantly expanding the county’s vacation rental regulations, but it was never fully implemented. A week after its adoption, the more-restrictive Ballot Measure 21-203 superseded it for 10 months before being declared invalid by the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.
Along with new occupancy and septic requirements as well as the addition of an administrative review of complaints, Ordinance 523 establishes seven zones in unincorporated areas where commissioners might limit the number of licenses or as a percentage of the total number of tax lots.
The commissioners still need to establish exact boundaries for the seven zones. Discussion so far has used the Depoe Bay, Yaquina Bay, Beaver Creek and Alsea Bay bridges to divide zones 1-5 on the west side of U.S. Highway 101, with Highway 20 dividing zones 6-7 on the east side of Highway 101.
Zones 1 through 5 hold about 85 percent of the county’s 502 licensed vacation rentals. The density of vacation rentals ranges from 5 percent of the total tax lots in the unincorporated area between the Yaquina Bay and Depoe Bay bridges to 23 percent in the area south of the Alsea Bay Bridge to the Lane County line.
In the large eastern zones 6 and 7, the density is less than 1 percent.
Commissioners have previously shown a preference for limiting by percentage without indicating what those caps might be. Staff provided data for potential caps of 1, 3, 5, and 7 percent during the commission’s regular meeting Wednesday.
County Counsel Kristin Yuille said she recommended commissioners pick a number of licenses per zone corresponding with their desired percentage and alter that periodically depending on new construction.
No licenses would be taken away to meet a limit. The county would rely on gradual reduction through sale, change of use or revocation for violations. If a license becomes available, the county would assign it by lottery.
The number of vacation rentals has declined by more than 100 since commissioners adopted a moratorium on new licenses in March 2020, then repeatedly extended it. The latest extension expires Feb. 22, but could be extended once again.
Commissioners on Wednesday asked Lisa Combs, who administers vacation rental licensing for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, to begin tracking reasons people surrender their licenses.
Going further?
In his first time dealing with the ordinance as a decision maker, newly elected commissioner Casey Miller indicated he was willing to amend the ordinance if necessary to address density issues missed by the seven zones.
Maps provided by county staff for the discussion but not available during the meeting highlight the point. One is a “heat map” — a map of the county with a circle with a 1,000-foot radius for each vacation rental, with the colors increasing in warmth from dark blue every time a circle overlaps. It shows a dramatic hotspot at Bella Beach in the Gleneden Beach area, where the density of the surrounding area is about 6 percent, relatively low compared to the other coastal areas.
Staff also provided a map with the percentage of tax lots operating as vacation rentals for much smaller, hexagon-shaped areas. A hexagon at Bayshore has a 50 percent density, compared to the 10 percent density of the larger area.
“For me, if we can cool the engines on (vacation rental) activity, we’re going in the right direction,” Miller said. “For me, personally, I’d like to see us bring the caps down, and not up. But I think one of the things I’m wrangling with is are we going to solve some of those density issues with this model the way we need to, and one of the comments was creating buffers between (vacation rental) properties.”
Buffers were among suggestions submitted by Monica Kirk of 15neighborhoods, the organization behind Ballot Measure 21-203. Kirk’s letter recommended commissioners create a 250-foot buffer between the property lines of licensed rentals. It also asked the commission to set a countywide cap at 1 percent and use a percentage of dwellings rather than tax lots for the calculation.
Kirk said 15neighborhoods would consider endorsing the cap program if the county would phase out licensing altogether in five years, a provision of the ballot measure. The previous commission did not endorse a phase out.
“The voters had a choice on November 4, 2021,” Kirk wrote, pointing to the fact that the measure won a clear majority at the polls days after commissioners adopted their own competing regulations.
Miller did not address any of Kirk’s other recommendations. He also indicated he would be willing to revisit the number of regions to tackle the problem. He asked Combs if buffers would be a realistic approach.
Combs said she would ask commissioners to use buffers or caps, but not both, for the purpose of clarity. Yuille interjected to note that the ordinance requires limits.
Ordinance 523 explicitly allows the commissioners to use orders to create limits and the boundaries for the seven zones. Creating a buffer or changing the number of zones would require an amendment, a more lengthy process than an order, and require public hearings.
“I’m overall pleased with the direction we’re headed, but I think the one thing our current proposal doesn’t really address is the issue of neighborhoods with high concentrations,” said commissioner Claire Hall. “Other than 250-foot or some other buffer zone, are you familiar with any other tools that would help us manage that,” she asked Combs.
Combs said she would have to consult with the county’s mapping staff.
Miller said he would also be concerned with creating a “blanket” buffer when a high density might work for certain neighborhoods.
No decisions were made Wednesday and commissioners are scheduled to resume their discussion at its meeting Jan.25.
Although they were active in the license debate prior to the adoption of Ordinance 523 and during the ballot measure campaign, few vacation rental owners have offered comments since a group of owners organized by the industry group Via Oregon took the matter to court.
Three lawsuits involving county vacation rental actions are still pending in Lincoln County Circuit Court. Those complaints challenge Ordinance 523’s prohibition on transferring a license when a house is sold, its new occupancy limits, and the commissioners’ moratorium, among other issues.
- Kenneth Lipp is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at KenLipp@YachatsNews.com
The problem and answer to the housing crises is not vacation rentals it’s the fact that Oregon’s laws, regulations and legislation has made building affordable housing unattainable for many, many years now and add in the fact that long-term rental landlords get screwed over every time they turn around by more ridiculous laws, regulation and legislation — and so, no one wants to be a long-term landlord.