PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend City Council continued discussions of the city’s regulation of short-term rentals in a workshop meeting with members of the city planning commission.
Because Monday night’s meeting was a workshop, no decisions were made, but planning director Lance Bailey answered some of the questions brought up by council members in previous meetings.
Currently, there are a variety of restrictions on short-term rentals, which are allowed only in the form of tourist homes, motels, hotels and bed-and-breakfasts.
In all cases, the property owner must be present, which means renting an entire residence on popular sites such as Airbnb and VRBO is not allowed.
The city code also states that for every bedroom in a tourist home, there must be one additional parking space on the property.
“When we’re permitting these, that requirement can make or break whether or not they can do it,” Bailey said.
The planning commission also has struggled with what can be allowed as far as cooking appliances.
Typically, microwaves or hot plates have been allowed; however, full kitchens within a unit would make it a “dwelling,” according to Bailey, which the city would like to see rented to a resident of Port Townsend.
Separate living spaces
This rule also applies to accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which are designed to be separate living spaces and would not qualify as short-term rentals. However, the city has allowed five ADUs to be permitted as short-term rentals because they were built before 1989.
The planning commission sent a recommendation to the city council in September when it was considering a three-month pilot program for short-term rentals in which planners were unanimously opposed to changing any of the current rules.
Bailey said some of the biggest reasons for that recommendation were the negative effects changes could have on the city’s already scarce affordable housing options and possible effects on neighborhoods.
“These neighborhoods with a lot of short-term rentals are not neighborhoods,” Bailey said.
Bailey said the planning commission would be open to changing some language, which would better outline kitchen standards and what “sleeping purposes only” means, but that the planning commission’s recommendation is pretty close to being a good fit for the city.
The city council will continue to look at the issue, but no actions are scheduled yet.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
