County to meet on short-term rentals

The goal is to “provide guidance to staff on the recommended next steps and the general direction they think is appropriate to pursue,” said Hood River County Planning Director John Roberts.

The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30 at the Business Administration Building at 601 State St. in the first floor conference room. For more details, go to www.co.hood-river... and click the “Agenda and Meetings” tab.

Lack of affordable long-term rentals and workforce housing, and the potential impact of vacation rentals and part-time houses on overall availability and marketplace value, has risen as a hot topic within the City of Hood River and the unincorporated communities of the Hood River Valley.

The city tagged affordable housing as its top goal for 2015, identified by council in its goal-setting session in November 2014. The county followed suit in January, marking the issue as a high priority item.

After the city started working with ECONorthwest on a short-term rental study, the county negotiated in early 2015 to also be included in the research. The purpose of the study was to “quantify more precisely the amount of housing used for short-term rentals and secondary housing in the county” and “provide context … that (they) play within the county’s broader housing market,” consultants said in their report.

ECONorthwest offers basic definitions of short-term rentals and second houses in their analysis:

So far, there are about 73 short-term rentals and 51 likely second homes in the unincorporated county, according to their findings — 2 percent of the unincorporated county’s 5,050 units.

“The Board (of Commissioners) definitely wants a good public process to address the STR issue. However, they want to fully understand the issue first — thus this work session is an important first step,” said Roberts.

In a staff report, the Planning Department called STRs “big business and a growing one at that,” as well as a “controversial and polarizing issue.” Their report, written based on ECONorthwest’s analysis, listed pros and cons.

For positives, planners said “the rentals create a lot of work for the people in the county.” They said some people have expressed that STRs even relieve the temporary housing during tourism season.

For concerns, staff listed a potential effect on availability and cost of long-term rentals and workforce housing which are “likely to get tighter and tighter,” as well as impacts associated with parking, noise, trash, occupancy and trespassing.

ECONorthwest and planning staff have presented a broad array of options, from remaining at status quo to limiting new STRs based on a fixed cap on number of structures or percentage within the housing market, prohibiting new STRs on certain zone districts such as Exclusive Farm Use, Forest or Industrial, or simply requiring a permit for new rental establishments.

Part of the strategies will also be to better identify existing short-term rentals and outline their role in the county’s Comprehensive Plan and its goals for agricultural lands, economic development and housing.

On Wednesday, the commissioners’ goal is to “review the consultant’s report as well as the staff report presented and determine the next step for the county,” according to the meeting agenda.