PORT ANGELES — Council member Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin introduced four motions regarding implementation of the new short term rental code at the city council meeting Tuesday night. Only one of those motions passed.
The motion which passed required staff to accept the county department of health’s kitchen inspection and the state’s fire and life safety inspection for bed and breakfasts, rather than requiring the city to complete their own inspections.
This motion passed 4 to 3.
Council members Schromen-Wawrin and Drew Scwab, Mayor Kate Dexter and Deputy Mayor Navarra Carr all voted in favor of the motion.
Council members Brendan Meyer, Amy Miller and LaTrisha Suggs all voted against it.
Calvin Goings, deputy city manager, said this motion raised at least four questions about its implementation.
First, he said the bed and breakfast business fee and the inspection fee were previously linked together. He asked whether they would have to be uncoupled following the motion.
Second, Goings wanted to know if the city would have to review the state’s inspection.
Third, he asked if operators would have to upload their state inspection to the application portal.
Finally, he asked whether the city should deny operators a license if there were issues with the state provided inspection.
“We would love to have clarification, whenever you can, on those four questions,” Goings said.
Schromen-Wawrin said he introduced motions to clarify the code because he thought it was being interpreted by the staff “in a way that I don’t think provided the clarity that it wanted to.”
One change Schromen-Wawrin wanted to see was less onerous requirements for the short-term rental fire and life safety inspections. He said some of the fire and life safety requirements being imposed on short term rentals were requirements that even long-term rentals didn’t have to comply with.
He introduced a motion asking to remove the requirement that homeowners upgrade or change their home to conform with current international resident code building standards, unless the property owner was seeking other permits or renovations.
This motion died for lack of a second.
Calvin Goings, deputy city manager, said that the requirements imposed by the fire and life safety inspection were not onerous, but very standard.
“The items we’re asking for are really basic,” he said.
If operators of short-term rentals do find the requirements too burdensome, Goings said the city is happy to make partial licenses that leave out the uncompliant bedrooms or floors of the residence.
“We are really interested in making this as smooth as possible,” he said.
Another change Schromen-Wawrin proposed was allowing short-term rental operators who were legally operating prior to June 30 to apply for licenses for each unit operated. This would mean that compliant individuals could have more than one short-term rental license per parcel or across multiple parcels.
This motion also died for lack of a second.
The final motion asked for city staff to prepare a draft ordinance bringing Port Angeles municipal code chapter 17.23 and 17.24 into alignment with the international building code’s requirements for residential buildings. It also asked to use existing state or county inspections rather than requiring the city to have their own inspections which Schromen-Wawrin said were “substantially redundant.”
This motion received silence from the rest of the council.
Although only one of Schromen-Wawrin’s motions passed, other council members indicated they would be amenable to making changes or clarifications to the code in the future, as they gather more data and see how the new code works.
“We can adjust it as we go, as needed,” Dexter said.
“I hope that we continue to hear from folks what things are working, what aren’t working, and that we can move through implementation and make adjustments where needed,” Dexter said.
The application for short term rental licenses opened on July 1, and enforcement of the code begins Nov. 1.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
