Letter to County Council re Vacation Rentals

We need this!

I support the active and compliant number and oppose the recent addition of 237 inactive. Quality of life is deteriorating.

The true working class people want a lower cap!!!

STOP increasing vacation rentals

I urge you to to rescind the reversal of your decision on vacation rental gap; please take the necessary time to really conduct a thorough study of what the expected increase of the population will have on, among other issues, water and infrastructure. That is what the temporary gap is for. Respectfully

Global warming is REAL. Our already dry weather patterns that the islands experience will be compounded by reckless over-use of water. Most VR individuals are clueless about water use in addition, the increase of visitors also increases wildfire potentials. Please stand by your initial decision.

Please put a cap on theses vacation rentals It’s taking away much needed long term rentals

I love our rural community. The key word for me is community. Let visitors stay at hotels, resorts, bed and breakfast already established in business zones, camp grounds or on boats. There is a limit to how many visitors we can manage and still feel like a community. Please do not increase the number of vacation rental permits for our county.

No new Vacation rentals. We need housing for workers, not money makers for the already wealthy.

Please honor your initial decision.

It's absolutely unacceptable that this has been a long-term escalating issue in our community that disproportionately effects working class residents (both short and long term), small island businesses whose employees depend on affordable (and ACTUALLY tenable) housing, and those unable to secure traditional financing to purchase land of their own despite long-term residence. The Planning Commission itself has borne witness to the difficulty of staffing its office because the vacation rental market is so out of control that qualified planners cannot move out here and afford to purchase property or rent off of a planning position income. (Side note: this is one of the most accurate definitions of irony that I have ever come across in real life). By allowing the rampant, unchecked expanse of the vacation rental market it actually significantly undermines the tourist economy as a whole because small businesses striving to render their services to increasing numbers of tourists cannot maintain the staff necessary to render those services at a high level because their employees (year-round and/or seasonal) cannot find housing that is fiscally responsible for their income tier or frequently actually livable. This is occurring through multiple different service industries at multiple different income tiers so it is not just about those of us living at a low-income wage. Furthermore, the lack of enforcement of even the most lax versions of the vacation rental policies means that many vacation rentals are operating illegally, losing the county a large portion of the profits that they propose would come--or ought to be coming-- from not capping vacation rentals to a lower number. So essentially, while landlords are profiting, the county in essence fundamentally isn't profiting in a way that would help fund functional policies that protect residents while also allowing for a vacation rental market to continue to exist in the islands. Growth without direction in one

Please honor your original vote, listen to your constituents, and continue the freeze on vacation rentals at the current active and compliant level. LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF YOUR PEOPLE!

I support the Planning Council's unanimous vote on Aug 20th, 2021, to freeze vacation rental caps at the current "Active and Compliant" number of 413.

Please set caps on VRs. The current number exceeds our ability to serve these people , to care for the servers and the people living full time on Orcas.

It is disheartening to see such a complex issue receive simplistic regulation. It affects a key resource, water, and there are conflicting studies on the impact. It affects affordable housing, where there seems to be a lot of anecdotal evidence but no studies. And it affects the livability of neighborhoods. It's also clear that the permits are not issued proportionally across the islands. The planning commission and the county need to treat this issue seriously.

We need residents, not tourists.

This is so important. Housing is necessary to ensure that Islanders are housed and fed, and in the current market too many have been displaced by short-sighted, greedy practices. We need to limit the expansion of VRBO licenses for the sake of the community who live and work here. The islands are not merely Disneyland for tourists, and the residents who work for a living and need affordable housing are the backbone upon which this community rests. Please consider that caring for our own is more important than enabling the worst of capitalistic predation.

Vacation rentals are eroding the fabric our island community, to the benefit of the very few, while ensuring that our neighbors are unable to staff their businesses, find appropriate housing that will ensure they can afford shelter and necessities, and while catering to tourists who, while supporting the local economy, strip said economy of the essentials required to endure its longevity. As someone who has been served notice to comply or vacate from a landlord expanding their VRBO license, I am staunchly opposed to any increase in vacation rental licenses, and I ask that the current number of approved licenses be reconsidered. It may be too late to undo the considerable damage that has already been wreaked due to greedy and predatory practices from too many landlords. Something must change!

Dollar bills don't exempt a place from carrying capacity. Easy to ignore though if you don't live in the place

It doesn't take much vision to see that extrapolated out, unlimited numbers of VRs are not sustainable in our neighborhoods and the larger community. The numbers we have, are already pushing the limits. Please do the right thing for the greater good of our shared community not the future business ventures of a few.