Letter to County Council re Vacation Rentals

The quality of life in our (formerly) quiet neighborhoods is being destroyed by the unchecked proliferation of vacation rentals. It needs to stop!

too many outside people renting here! traffic is too much==bikes, little red cars ......

I appreciate all the work to analyze the issue of vacation rentals, and I recognize its complexities. I don't find any justification, however, to increase VR permits above the current "Active and Compliant" number. While VRs are just one of many factors contributing to an affordable housing shortage and demands on services in the islands, setting some limits is one step to ease the negative impact of tourism on our county's limited resources.

We need a community not a revolving door island. Limits are needed and needed now.

We need to stop this nonsense of allowing businesses from Seattle and beyond who have no interest in protecting our community from having multiple vacation rentals. The number of vacation rentals needs to be lowered and only allow a person who lives on the property to have one.

This is a HORRID miscarriage of justice for you to claim to work for our whole Community yet show your true colors as shills for the Tourist Industry over our RESIDENT POPULATION!! You should be ashamed of yourselves!! Did you think that no one would notice?? That you could get us to shut up and go away while you actively work to DESTROY OUR LIVES??? We already have too many vacation rentals in the Islands. They are destroying the fabric of our Communities by removing housing that used to go to full-time renters off the market to give it to the damn Tourists!! You gave YOUR WORD that there was a moritorium!! Shame on you liars!! You do not deserve to be in our Community of Islanders!!

Am I totally against short term vacation rentals? No. Do I think that this is NOT THE TIME to allow more of them. Yes! I listened in on the October meeting. It seemed very clear that the islands are at a max capacity for visitors and rentals. And it seemed like the commission was in agreement. What the heck changed?

Please choose quality over quantity. I am in the tourist biz, selling kayak tours, lodging and wedding services. My customers crave an experience they can no longer get…the ratio of residents to visitors no longer supports the needs of either group. Limiting lodging in both numbers and location will help restore the balance.

Please honor the freeze on numbers. This is affecting all islanders

This seems like a very poor time to increase the number of active permits.

You cannot list or show that vrbos are causing so much grief as you put it. There as well are no links to vrbos and low income housing. ARe you saying that you have the authority to tell someone what they can and can't do with thier property as along as they comply with the established rules that you must not know anything about. Lets see, all those business downtown are doing it for "GREED"? GEt a clue. Take the Mob mentality out of your thoughts.

The situation these vacation rentals have have caused local residents so much grief. There is no housing available and people are having to move to the mainland to find housing. The greed of these hime owners has to stop!

I live next to multiple vacation rentals. I observe continued trespass onto neighbor's land, invading privacy and requiring action to educate those people and ask them to leave. The private unpaved roads suffer damage and reduced safety due to strangers who drive frequently across those driveways and often faster than they should. And, there is currently NO requirement for owners of the rentals to provide for all this visitors in their temporary quarters to weather a sustained emergency. I want to see a balanced limiting of these rentals in the islands. I feel, if allowed to overbalance year round or snowbird residence, they will undermine a true community of residents who care about the islands, who work to preserve their specialness and integrity, both in aesthetic quality and infrastructures for safe and wholesome Life. We need housing for people to be EMTs, library volunteers, workers in our restaurants and stores and all the many services of island life, including those who serve the visitors! We need taxation of the rentals to help pay for the care of the infrastructure of roads, water, sewer, emergency response. We need privacy and peace of the properties next to them. Housing for long term residents is in such short supply that our economy is already suffering, much less allowing the continued growth of using space for these vacationing rentals. Thank you for choosing the wise, good for all, for long term , solution.

This is incredibly important….the impact that rentals have on the housing market is widespread. This invites more and more people who do not have a direct connection to the land and see the islands as a tourist destination instead of a place where locals live, work, and reside year around. It greatly impacts the traffic and small town feel of the island making it very challenging for locals in the summer to access basic resources. If we do not stop the vacation rental market the demographic of the island will continually to change dramatically which greatly impacts the nature environment and it’s inhabitats. The pressure and desire to be on the islands will continue to grow as the climate shifts and people are able to work remotely…it’s important we start to come to terms with our boundaries and values as an island community before that outside pressure becomes too much. With the ferry system already being stressed the focus should be on how we can maintain and provide services to those who, live, work, and contribute to our community.

Please keep lower numbers.

San Juan County, with a resident population just under 20,000, hosts over a million seasonal visitors a year. Vacation lodging--not the ferries--is the only limit to those numbers (see SJ Tourism Study). If the County can't monitor and enforce the VR permits it issues, then permits should be reduced to a manageable number.

These islands do not need to be stuffed with extra people.

Citizens see the need to cap vacation rentals It's the people who own or make money on on them that want them Many don't live in the county.. very few live in the neighborhood.

Reaping passive income streams from property rented to community members makes you a common landlord. Profiting from VRBOs, however, displaces community members and discourages community solidarity, which makes you a predatory landlord who knowingly weakens the community. Capping VRBOs protects us against you.

Protect our neighborhoods and honor your decision made on August 20th to freeze the number of VR permits.