Letter to County Council re Vacation Rentals

Winnie and I live in the Bay Head subdivision just east of the Orcas ferry terminal. We used to know every vehicle that would go up our small private road. There was a long term rental house next door and we always had good neighbors living there. We now have a vacation rental next door. Strangers arrive almost every day. It has changed the whole feel of our subdivision. Please stick to the 413 cap.

Don't let our neighborhoods be destroyed!

Please let’s get this done!

John and I moved permanently to Orcas Island four years ago from Colorado. We were warned before we came that Air b&b's had ruined the San Juan islands. We had come from communities which had been negatively effected by vacation rentals, we are well aware of the effects of same. So many communities have found effective means of limiting these rentals, please let San Juan County join in the effort to curtail this threat to our community. The current lack of affordable housing and therefore help on the island is pandemic. The effects of these rentals has drastically impacted our islands. Please regulate these in order to preserve our communities. thank you

Please limit and cap the number of vacation rentals in the San Juan’s.

Please follow your August 20th decision to freeze the number of VR permits at 413. No backtracking is appropriate at this time. We on Lopez urgently need access to housing for our workers, those who sustain our local businesses. Your latest decision to instead foster to tourists who frequent vacation rentals for a weekend, a week, or a month is not the path to follow in sustaining the economy of our San Juan Islands. Take a look at what has become of Block Island off Rhode Island, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard island..

Please honor your original decision and help keep the San Juans the special and unique place they are.

Please cap the number of vacation rentals at 413 as you decided on August 20. Vacation rentals are overwhelming our neighborhood and creating dangerous situations on our private road.

Planning Commissioners: Please do what you can to save our neighborhoods! Thank you. Sarah

Please limit and cap the number of vacation rentals in San Juan County. The resources and infrastructure of the islands cannot support an increase.

The Planning Commission which serves the interests of the residents of this County should uphold its commitment made in August 20, 2021. It has more than enough data and information to know why any expansion to the current 413 'Active and Compliant' permit holders is not in the interests of the residents of this County, many of whom lack housing to affordably rent - this is a major issue for this County and people who come here to work, including in the critical fields of health and education. Should the Commission choose not to uphold its August 20th commitment, it should ask itself, whose interests is it really serving? The Commission, like the County Council and all other elected and appointed officials in this County has a duty to be accountable to the residents and voters, and be a responsive government.

We've lived on Orcas Island for 30 years, and just in the past few years it seems the number of vacation rentals has exploded. This is felt especially on Orcas Island. We are losing our neighborhoods. PLEASE honor your commitment to freeze the VR permits to the current active and compliant number of 413.

Please protect our neighborhoods.

Please.

My issue with this has to do with the eradication of affordable housing on the island - renters get priced out of their homes due to the fact that owners can make more with vacation rentals,

Set the cap to the active and compliant VR permits as of July 31, 2021 to prevent further loss of neighborhoods' sense of community. I think short-term VRs where the owner is present on the parcel during the rental should be separate and not included in this cap.

If our collective goal is to maintain and potential enhance the rural character of the San Juans, the last thing we should be doing is to allow what are ultimately commercial uses within our rural landscape.

My husband and I live on Orcas in Olga. Across the nation and the globe, communities are confronting the adverse impact of hi-turnover short-term rentals on neighborhoods caused by the rapid growth of the platform STRV industry. We are experiencing these problems here in SJC. Let's demonstrate that our SJC Planning Commission is capable of taking concrete action to protect our neighborhoods and the fragile ecosystem of our islands from further growth of STRV permits beyond what exists today. We need you to act now to set CAPS for future permits at the level of what's active & compliant. Thank you!

The integrity of our island neighborhoods need to be respected. I have heard too many of my friends and neighbors complain of disrespectful visitors. Let's not make it any worse.

Our community's wholesome and rural nature is in the balance.I have lived in the islands for over 50 years and it breaks my heart to see our precious island life style destroyed by short term thinking. Currently, greed and immediate financial gain are the dominant forces at work.This is our home,our island our future.Save our community and hear our plea. Respectfully,Kathleen Carter