Letter to County Council re Vacation Rentals

Please set caps on VRs. The present number on Orcas exceeds our ability to serve these people well

Please keep limits on vacation rentals and provide adequate funding to enforce the regulations on previously approved permits.

You made a solid decision on August 20th. The reasons to freeze VR rentals at 413 have only grown stronger since then. Freeze the freeze.

Vacation rentals destroy neighborhoods and diminish the availability of long term rentals. It is time to act in order to preserve our Island communities.

Deer Harbor, WA

Islands carrying capacity is over stretched. Governing must be revisited with metrics that consider climate crisis and island self reliance. This puts housing and quality of life for local residents and families at the forefront. Tourism based economy is brittle and out of touch with the global Realities. Not business as usual. Short term mindset is killing the future for our children and the planet. I demand that you, as my representative take responsibility for protecting the greater good. Try focusing on income generation that is more reasonable, ethical, and less damaging and heavily impactful. Those so desperate to over-use us all need alternatives or incentives for long term rentals. Get creative here. This exploitie mentality has wrecked many lovely healthy places. The way this is headed we will be ruined. Big picture changes around income generation must be explored and diligent protection of this Salish ecosystem must amplify. Try harder to remedy this symptom of failures. Respectfully but wth increasing apprehension as this and many critical county , issues are kicked down the road. San Juan county has lost vision of its place in the ecosystem and persists in chasing petty indulgences instead of gearing up to function coherently. I remember Tahoe before it was killed.San Juan county is heading that way for sure if you keep allowing carelessness like this. Please look at the root problems and work this out with a deeper, wider mindset. Yike, KS

A vrbo has an outsized power to change a neighborhood. In addition they create an illogical economic loop of driving up scarcity and prices when at the same time many are donating thousands of private dollars to our local land trust OPAL. It’s a type of head in the sand insanity. Go back to your agreed upon Aug 20 limit, please. Now.

I want to know who is sleeping in the house next to me, neighbors please not strangers

Please stand by the lower limits you approved earlier. We desperately need affordable places for YEAR-ROUND residents to rent. Listen to your people!!!

You made the decision to cap the number of VR permits at 413 in August. There is no reason to question it or change it now. Our islands have limited resources. We need to protect them for those who live and work here year round.

I strongly support setting the lower cap on vacation rentals and for stricter enforcement of our current regulations. I also advocate for considering only owner owned (no corporate) rentals.

I noticed a total disregard of people's personal property this past summer with all these rentals being allowed. I didn't appreciate the lack of respect and feeling of entitlement that some renters had.

Vacation rental approvals don't appear to consider the vast number of people who don't want or support them in their neighborhoods. For zoning that has them as discretionary, I can't understand why opposing voices are ignored.

I would not normally sign a petition that restricts people's freedom (even my own in the future) to make as much money as possible by vacation renting their property. However, I can't deny how damaging this freedom has been to our community. We need to limit this phenomenon.

I live on Lopez. We are experiencing a significant impact from vacation rentals. Our community must prioritize the needs of our long term residents, including affordable housing for our working families,

I have been a long time islander for over 30 years, and now am looking at becoming homeless due to the 1% buying up property, homes, turning them into businesses. The initial morals, values, purpose of island life, that has been for centuries, is being ignored by pure greed purposes.

PLEASE help make Orcas affordable again.

Many communities have been destroyed by an abundance of vacation rentals, especially those owned by outside investors who merely want to capitalize on popular destinations. Profits do not remain in the community. Homes have a revolving door of tourists in the summer, and sit empty during the winter. It is difficult to have a friendly community when neighboring houses hold no neighbors. Communities in Palo Alto, Vancouver, Cape Cod, and more have encountered the same problems because they did not maintain their limits on vacation rentals, particularly those owned by non-residents / outside investors. Because locals can have onsite "homestay" rentals that do not require a vacation rental permit, that essentially means the allowed number of vacation rentals can all be owned by outside investors who are more interested in profiting off the San Juan Islands than contributing to this community. We need to protect the neighborhoods of the San Juan Islands from becoming investment properties up for the highest bidder and occupied by transient visitors. By limiting vacation rentals, we can limit speculators and profiteers from destroying our communities, too.

SJC should step up the enforcement of existing VR regulations.

I feel strongly about this issue. We need long term housing and neighborhoods with people who are invested in our communities.