Letter to County Council re Vacation Rentals

Not true about Hawaii. Your beef is with Tourism, not vrbo. Why don't you just say that.

Thats why you have no electicity, county services, nothing....you do have isolation though....that was a real smart thing to do.

And you magically know that number? You have yet to establish that there are "too many" What is the effect of more? You guys are just mob mentality

It is very unfair and probably illegal to take away a purchased permit that is assigned to the property and not the owner...take away the sewer permits then?

You took off my replys

I support the cap as the economic incentives for investors to circumvent local CC&Rs and ignore neighborhood concerns is too great.

Please honor your earlier decision and freeze vacation rental caps at the current “Active and Compliant” number of 413. Our merchants are exhausted from working themselves and their limited staffs due to a lack of affordable longterm rentals for their employees. Also, please restore the earlier associated island-specific caps. Orcas is a rural island. The island specific caps allow a fair way for each island to meet local needs and desires. Thank you, Elle Saunders Stewart

I would also like to see a change whereby the permit expires with change in ownership of the property.

Please honor your previous decision to freeze VR's at the current level, at least until we have a clear idea on the carrying capacity of our island. Thank you

I live on Waldron Island. Years ago, we made the difficult decision here to prohibit transient lodgings altogether. While this is not a solution for the larger islands, it does provide a good reference point: Long-term sustainability requires placing certain limits -- even if those limits create some political friction. I urge the Council to freeze the number of Vacation Rentals at 413.

I oppose vacation rentals, I prefer an 'economic model' less dependent on 'unbundled visitors'. A bundled visitor come to visit our sacred space through a natural curiosity for, let's say, angora sheep. When they register for a week-long shepherd's experience, they also book their accommodations and are approved for a ferry reservation. Or, it could be to choose a study/experience from an extensive catalog featuring our local talent, as well as guest instructors from elsewhere that are selected by locals who want to study with them. This is just an idea (one the Makers Guild is working on}. Among the Visitors Bureau, WSU, U Vic, WWU may be the capacity to shift directions now, while we can. Honolulu may be pulling all VRs out of neighborhoods. We are operating under a broken, crippling model. Please go the other direction and begin to wind this down. Change the regulations to begin shrinking the VR housing.

Reversing the decision to cap vacation rentals makes no sense in our current environment of increased population with housing and ferry service shortages. Please cap vacation rentals as active and compliant.

We need to have as fe 'vacation rentals as possible and reward only term rentals

Do not turn the San Juan Islands into Miami Beach.

I am the Treasurer and a Board member of the Lopez Historical Society. We have struggled to support our Director to find adequate rental housing on Lopez. It is outrageously expensive and not available. Your cap on VR's should benefit our local economy more than absentee landowners. Thank You

Please cap the number of vacation rentals at 413 as you decided on August 20.

I agree

We have 3 vacation rental properties on our street of 10 homes 2 of them new in the last 2 years and they have changed the character of our neighborhood. There are more cars and they drive faster. We have found renters hiking through our property and when we ask them if they are trying to find something they respond "Oh, is this private property?". We have a leash requirement in our neighborhood but some of the renters let their dogs run loose, chasing me deer and sometimes harassing our neighborhood dogs and cats.

My wife and I want Orcas to be a COMMUNITY while VR's make Orcas a COMMODITY. Our preference would be to limit all VR's to minimum 1 month stay.

This issue is extremely important to me. Vacation rentals have changed the character of whole neighborhoods. And by setting this cap, it is not affecting people who already have active permits. They don't seem to understand this point.