By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
It’s not your usual Oregon coast spring break week.
After swarming to parts of the coast last weekend, visitors to the coast returned home this week as Lincoln County and its seven cities joined Tillamook and Clatsop counties in banning motel and vacation rentals for short-term recreational use. The emergency order also applied to RV parks and private campgrounds for people staying less than 30 days.
Oregon state and federal campgrounds and day-use areas — which had planned to stay open through spring break — did an about face under a new “stay in place” directive from Gov. Kate Brown and closed as well.
By Thursday most motels had either closed or gone along with restricting rentals to essential people like medical providers, non-local construction workers, truckers and the homeless using county-issued vouchers.
Lincoln County commissioners and seven city councils Monday night took the unprecedented action to approve a countywide order to close motels and short-term rentals to recreational visitors to help slow the spread of coronavirus. While all the cities — Yachats, Waldport, Newport, Toledo, Siletz, Depoe Bay and Lincoln City — overwhelmingly approved the emergency declaration Monday night, individual cities can opt out at any time.
The Lincoln County order is stricter than one issued Monday morning by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, who has stopped short of a statewide “stay-in-place” order. The governor’s action Monday simply encouraged more social distancing and closed non-essential businesses – but not lodging.
The concern is that visitors would accelerate the number of eventual COVID-19 cases in Lincoln County, overwhelming the medical capabilities of the two small Samaritan Health System hospitals in Newport and Lincoln City. Another concern is that with motel closures to the north, tourists would come south to Lincoln County.
There have been no reported cases in Lincoln, Tillamook or Clatsop counties, although one Lincoln County resident is hospitalized outside the county after contracting symptoms elsewhere. The Oregon Health Authority on Thursday reported just 48 negative tests in Lincoln County, which is just now ramping up testing.
Some motels had already taken steps to close before the county’s order. The three largest in Yachats closed over the weekend and Yachats-based Sweet Homes vacation rentals stopped taking reservations for its 75 properties in Lincoln County. Now big outside rental managers like Vacasa and Airbnb, which manage hundreds of rentals, had to follow suit.
Monday night’s extraordinary meeting was chaired by county Commissioner Kaety Jacobsen in the Newport City Council chambers with quorums or representatives of all seven cities and two fellow commissioners listening and participating by telephone.
“It is a completely unprecedented time … and difficult times for all our communities,” Jacobson said in opening the unusual meeting. “We’re not closing the county’s borders. This is really about short-term rentals.”
Most councils from the seven cities had met earlier in the day to discuss the county’s order and vote on it. None objected.
The Yachats City Council, which earlier Monday met to OK an emergency ordinance giving the city manager authority to enforce county ordinances and other administrative powers, approved the county resolution 3-0 Monday night.
The Newport City Council met by phone at noon Monday to hear about weekend developments, Brown’s order earlier in the day, and to discuss the county’s proposed order. Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer said mayors in the county talked Monday morning and discussed the need to be consistent.
“I think it’s a good intent – if it happens – but it needs to be consistent across the county,” Sawyer said.
Newport City Manager Spencer Nebel said he worried about Lincoln County closing motels to all visitors, but said the county’s exemption of essential workers like medical providers, construction workers, truckers and the like was appropriate.
“I have concerns about the outright closure of motels, but this allows occupancy for essential services,” Nebel told his council. “We have a lot of business use of those facilities. An outright closure of hotels and motels would be detrimental to Newport.”
Waldport has no such qualms, but it has only one motel in the city limits, which closed Sunday night.
Waldport Mayor Dann Cutter had promised the city would take more drastic action – including raising lodging taxes – if motels and short-term rentals didn’t shut down.
Lincoln County Sheriff Curtis Landers said Monday night he would talk to various police departments in the county to work out a consistent way of enforcing the county order. They also would have to meld the governor’s restrictions into their enforcement as well, he said.
“I would never have dreamed we’d ever have to enforce something like this,” Landers said.
The sheriff said his department would focus on notifying properties, educating them of the new order, and then gradually making sure there is compliance. He asked cities to notify their motels and vacation rental agents as well.
“We’re not shutting down businesses or motels, but limiting who can be there,” said Commissioner Doug Hunt. “It’s a good order … and it’s good that the cities came to an agreement.”
Hopefully none of the tourists were exposed to the virus from Lincoln county residents
Well if you knew your facts Tina we don’t have any one in Lincoln County that has the virus YET!!!!!!
We would like to keep it that way as our county has a huge population of older people that we need to protect
On what day did Newport shut down the vacation rentals? I was charged a cancellation fee and a booking fee that I do not believe I should have been forced to pay?
March 25