By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Lincoln County commissioners plan to extend their moratorium on issuing new vacation rental licenses for at least another six months as they prepare to implement a county ordinance that places tighter restrictions — but no ban — on such rentals.
This comes two weeks after the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals declared a more restrictive voter-approved ballot measure invalid and as the county’s ordinance is challenged in court.
Commissioners decided last week to begin working on details of an ordinance they passed last October but was put on hold a month later until the state could rule on Ballot Measure 21-203 passed by voters last November. On Aug. 8, LUBA declared the ballot measure invalid because it would phase out non-conforming uses such as homes being used as short-term rentals. Oregon law prevents retroactively banning a previously approved use, it said.
That leaves the county’s less-restrictive ordinance and its license moratorium, which are also being challenged in Lincoln County Circuit Court by the vacation rental industry. But with the court process – and any appeals – expected to take at least a year, commissioners decided Wednesday to direct staff to start preparing to implement its ordinance.
After discussing the issue, commissioners last week agreed to move ahead with a vote this Wednesday to extend the moratorium, just days before its is set to expire Sept. 6.
The county has not issued new vacation rental licenses in certain residential zones for at least 18 months, as it tried to wade through how or if to more tightly regulate the growing number of rentals in unincorporated areas. Because licenses are not allowed to be transferred during a sale, the number of licensed rentals in unincorporated areas has shrunk from a bit more than 600 to 511 during that time.
Last October commissioners passed Ordinance 523 as a way to deal with rentals in residential areas, creating seven geographic areas where they would be limited or allowed to increase, cutting occupancy rates and requiring septic system inspections and upgrades. They also proposed a new administrative process to deal with complaints, but still need to hire a hearings officer.
That ordinance was an attempt to sway voters to defeat the citizen-inspired ballot measure that phased out such rentals in residential zones of unincorporated Lincoln County. Voters approved the measure by a 56 percent to 44 percent margin.
The vacation rental industry immediately challenged the ballot measure, the county’s ordinance and the moratorium in Lincoln County Circuit Court. Circuit Judge Amanda Benjamin sent all three to LUBA, saying they were land-use issues. But LUBA said only the ballot measure fell under its jurisdiction and returned the fight over the county ordinance and moratorium to circuit court.
Lawyers for the county and vacation rental industry were in court last week to argue whether the two county issues – its ordinance and moratorium – should be consolidated into one case. A hearing on that is next scheduled in mid-September.
Six more months?
Commissioners seemed inclined last week to extend the license moratorium another six months, but end or extend it depending whether its lawyers, the sheriff’s office, and the planning department needed less or more time to work on implementation.
Sheriff Curtis Landers said his office recently hired a second code enforcement officer, but needs to contract with a hearings officer. The county’s legal department needs to work out language on citations, court procedures and legal notices. And, the planning department needs to formalize the new septic system requirements.
“There’s going to be some confusion,” said county counsel Krisitin Yuille. “We need to be clear about what we’re doing.”
The biggest issue facing commissioners will be re-visiting five of the seven geographic areas west of U.S. Highway 101 and trying to determine the number of licensed rentals to be allowed in each. Commissioners decided informally decided last year if an area’s limit was lower than the current number of licenses, they would get to the new limit via attrition.
When commissioners passed their ordinance last October there were 455 licenses in the five zones west of Highway 101, according to county data. Under the previous proposal those would drop through attrition to 360, but county staff never explained how they arrived at those numbers. Under last October’s formula, the number of licenses east of Highway 101 would be allowed to increase from the current 77 to 138.
The zones, the number of vacation rentals in October 2021 and under the proposed percentages are:
- Zone 5: From the north city limits of Yachats to the city of Waldport — 87 rentals which are 23.3 percent of all addresses; drops to 49 rentals at 13 percent;
- Zone 4: From the Bayshore community north of Waldport to Beaver Creek north of Seal Rock — 146 rentals, 10.6 percent of all addresses; drops to 117 rentals at 8.5 percent;
- Zone 3: From Beaver Creek to the south edge of Newport — 40 rentals, 14.1 percent of all addresses; drops to 28 rentals at 10 percent;
- Zone 2: From the north edge of Newport to the south limits of Depoe Bay — 25 rentals, 5.6 percent of all addresses; drops to 22 rentals at 5 percent;
- Zone 1: From Depoe Bay to Lincoln City — 157 rentals, 7.1 percent of all addresses; drops to 144 rentals at 6.5 percent;
- Zone 6: All the unincorporated county east of U.S. 101 from Lincoln City in the north to Highway 20 in the south — with 43 rentals, 0.9 percent of all addresses; increases to 70 at 1.5 percent;
- Zone 7: All of unincorporated county east of U.S. 101 from Highway 20 in the north to the Lane County line in the south — 34 rentals at 0.8 percent of all addresses; increases to 67 at 1.5 percent.
Lisa Combs, head of support services for the sheriff’s office, said the “harder piece” of any new regulation and enforcement is the number of people she believes are operating vacation rentals without a license.
“We know there are people operating under the wire and they’re more difficult to deal with,” Combs told commissioners last week.
- Quinton Smith, a longtime Oregon journalist, is the founder and editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com