PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend City Council has set a public workshop for March to further discuss no-occupant short-term rentals.
The council debated the Planning Commission’s recommendation on the issue at length during its most recent meeting, but members took no action and voted unanimously to schedule a public workshop on the matter for March 13.
The council has looked at potentially revising regulations for short-term rentals since 2006. Most recently, in May 2016, the council asked the city’s Planning Commission to make a recommendation on a new city regulation that would allow for a three-year pilot program for non-owner-occupied short-term rentals.
In September 2016, the Planning Commission presented the council with proposed code changes and a unanimous vote against the pilot program.
Currently, the city’s code only allows for short-term rentals, which are defined as 29 days or less, in the form of bed-and-breakfasts, hotels, motels and tourist homes.
This means popular vacation rental sites such as VRBO and Airbnb are technically not allowed in the city unless the homeowner is on site.
However, according to the agenda bill submitted by the city’s development services department, these types of rentals are known to be occurring anyway.
To deal with this, the Planning Commission proposed a number of changes to the language used in the current city code.
In the draft code submitted by the commission in September, the definition of a “tourist home” is defined further.
The home must be the primary residence for the owners, and owners must prove their residency with documents such as a state driver’s license, voter registration or other state- or federal-issued identification.
The draft recommended by the commission also specifies that the owners of the rental must be on site if anyone is renting the home.
The draft also specifies that no rental room can be occupied by more than two people.
Owners of any kind of short-term rental would also now need a business license to operate in the city under the draft.
However, council members felt some of the changes were confusing, making it easy for people to circumnavigate the codes.
“I think if we start opening up this tourist home, I’m not sure why we’re going through all this regulation,” Councilwoman Catharine Robinson said Tuesday. “It’s going to do what I think we were trying to hold at bay, which is allowing for rentals for people who dwell and work here.”
Councilwoman Michelle Sandoval said she was concerned that the new rules would also be difficult to enforce.
“I think the enforcement will be more difficult because there are plenty of people who don’t live in their home that do this,” Sandoval said.
There was no public comment at the meeting, but there were many questions from council members. The confusion among council members led City Administrator David Timmons to recommend the council members continue workshopping the changes before they are presented to the public.
“I’m hearing we definitely need a workshop,” said Port Townsend Mayor Deborah Stinson.
The council voted unanimously to add the issue of short-term rentals to its March 13 workshop agenda.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
