short-term

By Pepper Fisher

PORT ANGELES – A group of Port Angeles-area residents are working to add to the public conversation about Short Term Rental (STR) properties after a 6-month moratorium on new STRs was imposed by the City Council in June.

The moratorium, which expires on December 16, was really just a pause to give a hired consultant time to collect some solid data on STRs before City staff and Councilors work on defining how STRs can operate in the city limits. Should we expand where they can be located? Should a license be required? Here’s Mayor Kate Dexter.

“That’s part of the problem is, the only regulation currently in place, based on municipal code, is where they’re allowed. I think we all agree we don’t like the current rule, which was written long before we got there. So, it’s been a priority of ours to address short-term rentals. So we’re beginning the process of looking at, “what should the regulations be?”

The moratorium also raised some serious concerns among the group of about 200 city residents, some of whom operate STRs or support the industry, and together they formed the non-profit called Olympic Peninsula Lodging Alliance. One of the members of that group is Steve Pelayo.

“Yeah, the moratorium. I really don’t have any issue with that. The moratorium, I think, is a little misunderstood. There’s a lot of confusion out there. But our group is really all for education. Let’s see what the data says, and let’s talk about the issues and what’s best for our community.”

So, ahead of whatever the consultant comes back with, what does the known data tell us about housing and STRs in Port Angeles? According to the Lodging Alliance group, there are about 10,000 homes in Port Angeles. They believe there are somewhere between 200 and 250 STRs within the city limits, or 2-3% of the total housing stock.

“If we’re down at 2-3 percent, I actually would argue that we don’t really have a short-term rental problem here. And a lot of these people, if anything, they’re actually kind of ambassadors for our community. They’re investors in our community. We can talk about it a little bit later, but I think some of the shocking data that came out for me in my digging was, if you look at the housing action plan, it showed that at that point in time, this is a survey, it was estimated as much as 1,100 homes were vacant. So again, these are the areas that I think we have a lot of underutilized assets. Where I’d rather be focusing on, rather than punishing the people that are actually investing in our community and making their properties nice.”

One of the group’s members was able to identify 220 short-term rentals in the City, and claims to have found the following: 57 are in areas considered legal by the city to have STRs. 163 are in residential low-density zoning and are currently considered illegal by the city. Police have been issuing warning letters that include information on the rules to some of those owners, but only after receiving a complaint about them, such as from a neighbor.

A public Records Request revealed the following. Olivia Hatton, Records Specialist with the Port Angeles Police Department, wrote “We have received a total of 118 STR Complaints. Of these complaints, one person filed 70, one person filed 16, one person filed 7, one person filed 6, one person filed 5, five people filed 2, and four people filed 1.”

In other words, nearly 90% of short-term rental complaints to Code Enforcement came from five individuals, with one person submitting 60% of them.

“I branded it “complaint-gate” to get a little bit more attention to it, but this perception that this is a citywide public nuisance that’s causing problems everywhere, is not the reality, to be quite honest. And it’s fun to hear some people stand up at City Council and say, “No, I love them. I like seeing the license plate from another state, and then trying to be an ambassador for my town, and encouraging them to go check out the tide pools at Salt Creek, and make sure you swim in the lake.” And so, no, I think if anything, it’s been more of a net positive.”

So, what’s next? The City’s Communications Director Jessica Straits told KONP they expect the data to be delivered by the consultant in the days ahead. City staff will be announcing a detailed Public Outreach and Participation Plan next week, along with a webpage dedicated to the topic of Short-Term Lodging and the City’s regulatory development process.

Using the City’s website, residents and stakeholders will be able to review the data from the consultant and the options for proposed regulations.

Before a recommendation is brought to Council, staff will implement a community survey and hold several public feedback sessions in late December through mid-January. A Planning Commission Public Hearing is scheduled for January 24th, and a City Council Public Hearing is scheduled for February 21st.

In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about the group, visit olympicpeninsulalodgingalliance.org.