Curry STR Roundtable Petition to Object to Curry County Implementing a Conditional Use Permit, Moratorium, or Cap on Short Term Rentals

We have been renting for years to vacationers and from time to time to some long term renters. Our safety issues have only been with long term renters breaking our rental agreements or breaking the law. We pay a 7% lodging tax that partially funds the sheriffs office so we are curious about what is really going towards that fund for our community safety and what the real concerns are with public safety, disturbances, property issues, etc with vacationers. At the planning commission there was a discussion to conduct an assessment or study of the situation to make sure we are truly solving the "problem" the right way and not creating more unforeseen issues for our community. Curry County is not the same as Tillamook and the formula for that part of the coast can not be generically applied to ours. We should better understand the number of complaints or sheriff/911 calls that are related to STRs vs regular dwellings/rentals in the county.

1: Who pays the property taxes on said vacation rental? 2: You would be taking food from the person who cleans rentals by capping the number of rentals. 3: The people on their tin thrones are paid by the state or from our property tax monies. Have you thought of the self employed? 4: Rentals causing a housing shortage? I don’t think so. Are these rentals for sale? No. 5: Housing shortage is caused by the high pricing of the homes. A middle class working family can’t afford the “affordable housing” 6: I am a good steward of my land and I have to live by some of the zones the county implemented. even though I pay land taxes. All I have to say The County should have to live within their means. Don’t look to put taxes upon taxes to cover their expenses.

I believe that this could have harmful effects on our tourism and economy. I believe that advertise as a bed and breakfast and lodges etc should be regulated...anyone that serves food because so many serve food without a license ....but a typical vacation rental that does not offer food I believe should not.

I strongly support looking at alternatives to a CUP that would still allow for some monitoring of STRs. I think most homeowners/managers have the best interest of the community at heart and it is to our advantage to remain in good standing. Education is essential for that. I do think that some limitations on the number/type of vacation rentals allowed is reasonable, but only if they are well planned and fairly applied.

Short term rentals bring business, jobs, money and opportunity to those of us who live here.

Highly supportive of excellent neighbor and good, ethical business practices. Register, pay taxes, be a good neighbor. CUP? Not necessary.

Too many restrictions for such a small place.

Tourism and timber are the only industries left in Curry County and I believe overly regulating vacation homes will potentially decrease tourism and negatively impact our local economy at all levels. If the tourism economy takes a hit, then all businesses will be impacted from restaurants, cafes, gas stations, grocery stores, activities and we won't need to solve any housing issue as we won't have any available jobs. If the county wants to regulate STRs, then they need to be equitable and enforce these regulations across the entire rental market not just STRS as its unclear why they are singled out when only a very small portion of the overall rental market in our area.

Please don't impact our tourism economy by overly regulating STRs. We can find an amicable solution to address neighbor concerns if there are any noise or disturbance reporting. Regulating will not solve the housing crisis in our county as most STR are on high demand locations with ocean views/access and out of the price range.

If there are problems with particular short-term rentals, go after those that are causing the problems. Short-term rentals bring in revenue to the county coffers (or should be if your enforce the Transitory Lodging Tax) as well as funds to promote tourism. Tourism is the ONLY real industry in Curry County and what you are proposing will hamper even more the ability of Curry County landowners/homeowners to earn an honest dollar. Do not heap more coals upon the fires that covid has caused by writing more licensing, rules, regulations, caps or whatever regarding short-term rentals. As I said above, go after those that are causing issues but leave the rest of us (which I am sure is most) that have short-term rentals alone.

While I understand there have been SOME issues with SOME properties that are operating short term rentals this is no reason to put additional restrictions, rules and regulations on every landowner that has a short-term rental. Hasn't Kate's covid mandates done enough damage to our county?? And now you want to further hamper someone's ability to generate revenue?? Go after those who are causing problems but I implore you to NOT pass any actions, rules, regulations, moratoriums, hard caps or conditional use permitting processes for short-term rentals. Thank you.

The proposed actions being considered by BOC appear to bypass all the normal and existing procedures available to the County (education, letters of non-compliance, etc) to address any nuisance or violations of existing regulations. The CUP proposal looks mostly like a revenue generation plan to fund other budget shortfalls ($2000x400=$800,000 in year one plus renewal fees) and levied on small businesses that are already contributing greatly to local tax and economic revenue generation (TLT, property tax, and tourist spending). The low long term housing inventory is 100% caused by rental legislation that discourages property owners from using their properties in that way. Trying to solve long-term rental inventory problems with a local policy that hurts our tourism economy will just aggravate property owners. Please start by educating property owners on existing regulations and sending out letters of noncompliance with existing regulations before making additional rules. Thank you.

Work with property managers on tax requirements and good neighbor practices.

Many of these proposals sound onerous. In particular, the application of a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) is out-of-line. I was a land use planner for over 25 years and have understood the Cup to be employed when a proposed use is not consistent with the current zoning, in this case, residential uses. A CUP would be necessary for, as an example, a dog kennel on a residential property as it would add additional noise, traffic and possibly parking concerns. Even a home business such as a tax preparation service could add unwanted traffic to a neighborhood. Short term rentals are simply residential uses in a residential neighborhood. Impacts such as traffic, parking or noise are no different than would be found with a home-owner residing in a home.

I support short term rentals in our community and I am against government over reach.

The county is overstepping its authority and trying to use this as a tax on us. The issues they have presented are not legitimate and they have already made up their mind. Curry county relies on the tourism throughout the year. The county would rather give up tourism by putting more restrictions on us. Also the lack of housing in the county has nothing to do with short term rentals. They are just trying to use it as an excuse to limit STR and regulate it more by taxing more. Please listen to us and stop this madness

I believe it should be considered an outright use in the county like it always has.

Curry county home owner

Home owner

What's called for is the patience and careful consideration of the concerns of all the sides, all of the issues, and possible solutions. Our County would be the #1 looser of the revenues that STR's bring. Haste makes waste. How many owners would stand for the degree of premature control and cost that it's being in the process of trusted on this very profitable to the County industry? Can the BOC risk to jeopardize the one of not- so-many significant contributors to our local economy? STR's are an ambassadors to the world of our little Curry County gem.