WHITE SALMON — The White Salmon City Council will consider recommendations to amend the city’s short-term rental code this week. City staff is recommending council discuss the proposal following a public hearing, and provide direction to staff for further consideration.
Following multiple lengthy discussions, planning commissioners voted to recommend a series of changes to the city’s short-term rental permitting system at their Nov. 18 meeting, bringing the city closer to resolving an ongoing moratorium on short-term rental permit applications.
Within the recommendations are a further categorization of short-term rentals: The proposal separately defines vacation home rentals and hosted homeshares that can be found in a residential zone. The proposed amendment classifies an entire dwelling unit used for short-term rental use as a vacation home rental, while a hosted homeshare is classified by only a portion of the dwelling unit set aside as a short-term rental.
The two categorizations would affect certain requirements. A vacation home rental can operate 150 days out of the year in residential zones while a hosted homeshare can operate the whole year in the same area, under the recommended amendments.
The planning commission is recommending owner-occupancy requirements by zone, rather than by overlays as had been previously considered. Under the proposed changes, a short-term rental developer would need to occupy the property of a registered short-term rental outside of the downtown commercial zone. Within the downtown commercial zone, there is no owner-occupancy requirement under the proposed changes.
Planning commissioners are recommending 8-year terms for each residential short-term rental permit, and following that eight-year period, an owner can reapply for a permit if available, or join a queue to receive one when one becomes available. If a queue were to occur, permits would be distributed on a first-come first-serve basis. Commercial short-term rental permits would not expire under the proposal.
The recommendation proposes establishing a grandfathering system for current owners of short-term rentals. That aspect of the proposal would exempt current short-term rental units that adhere to city standards indefinitely in the commercial zone and for a maximum of ten years in residential zones.
Within the commercial core, an owner would not be limited to a maximum number of permits, but within the residential zones, the proposal would set a maximum number of permits to one.
The proposal would cap the number of permits distributed in the residential zones to 10% of the housing stock. It would allow an unlimited number of permits within the downtown commercial core but institute a cap of 30% of residential units within a building that can be used as a short-term rental.
The proposal would also require one parking spot per two bedroom units provided within a short-term rental unit. The White Salmon City Council meets this Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m.
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