A Lewis County Planning Commission meeting ran into the night Tuesday as commissioners extended the gathering to hear more than 40 individuals testify on one issue: short-term rentals offered through Airbnb, Vrbo and similar companies.
The July 8 meeting started at 6 p.m. and didn’t finish until after 10 p.m.
The main event for the meeting was a public hearing on a list of potential development regulations being considered by the commission. While the hearing was a chance to comment on 300 pages of proposed rules, the meeting was packed to the brim with one group that spoke almost exclusively against short-term rental regulations.
Many in the group wore matching T-shirts with phrases like “don’t STRangle tourism” and “Strict regs won’t lower costs.” The group was so large that county staff set up an overflow viewing room to accommodate everyone in attendance.
Amid varied concerns over different aspects of the possible regulations, testimony took on a few themes, including pushback against claims that additional regulations would lower housing costs and a rejection of the idea that rental owners are getting rich and have no connections to the community.
One man who testified remotely spoke of his own personal connection to a multi-generational family property in Packwood, despite now living in a different county. Travis Redfield, who was born and raised in Packwood, said he believes short-term rentals have helped revitalize the town that struggled after the logging industry began to decline.
“When I was a kid, Packwood was special,” Redfield said. “We were always riding our bikes through the streets of Packwood. There was energy, life and a strong sense of community ... Packwood is vibrant again. There's life here. There's families. There are jobs, restaurants, breweries and small businesses, and I truly believe short-term rentals have played a big role in that.”
Before testimony began, Lewis County Community Development Director Mindy Brooks gave a presentation on the list of new rules being proposed as part of the Lewis County periodic planning process. The process is mandated by the state’s Growth Management Act and requires cities and counties to update their comprehensive plans and development regulations every 10 years. It's primarily a vessel for localities to update codes to comply with new state laws, but also presents an opportunity for the county to address local goals and issues.
Short-term rentals have been a boiling hot topic in East Lewis County, where the number of such rentals has brought complaints about a shortage of permanent housing.
While presenting on many of the proposed rules, many of which are required by the state, Brooks paid special attention to those concerning short-term rentals. She first highlighted the many surrounding counties that regulate short-term rentals in some way and outlined the reasons why local governments choose to regulate. The reasons included managing housing stock and ensuring health and safety, economic equity and neighborhood livability.
“There are many ways that all these different places regulate short-term rentals, but the reasons are all the same,” Brooks said. “So if you look into the research, the background of ‘why,’ the ‘why’ is always the same. The ‘how’ is very, very different.”
The proposed rules first defined short-term rentals as lodging offered to guests for no longer than 30 consecutive nights and no more than 180 days in a year, or roughly half of the year. The definition includes exemptions for properties that are owner-occupied where three or less rooms are rented or month-by-month leases are exempted from short-term rental rules.
Under the countywide rule proposals, properties meeting the definition of short-term rental would be subject to a list of regulations, such as purchasing a one-time permit from the county, going through a health and safety inspection and complying with other rules, such as limiting how many guests per lodging, requiring a certain number of parking spots or limiting how many rentals can be operated on a single property.
The rule that drew the most attention from those testifying would limit the number of short-term rentals inside urban growth areas and other rural areas with significant growth. The proposed cap would restrict the number of short-term rentals per neighborhood to 25% of the dwelling units or houses in the area.
With the current number of rentals, the cap would mean some areas such as the Lewis County side of Ashford and the unincorporated community of Mineral couldn’t accommodate any more short-term rentals while others would have space for a handful more. Packwood and the Timberline neighborhood could take nine more while the major outlier of the group, Mayfield, could take another 71 rentals.
The cap comes with a six-month grace period to allow people who have already invested in a rental property to get a county operating permit regardless of the cap. Brooks pitched the grace period as a way for current owners and operators to continue their business regardless of the cap.
“No intention here of putting people who operate short-term rentals today out of business at all,” Brooks said.
After the roughly 30-minute presentation from Brooks, more than three hours of public testimony followed, with almost 40 people signing up to testify ahead of time and many more signing up upon arrival. The majority of those who testified either own or operate short-term rentals or are in the process of building one.
Some lobbied for a longer grace period that would allow people that have already invested in a short-term rental but needed more time to renovate their property. Others took issue with the limit on the number of short-term rentals per parcel and the requirement to purchase a permit. Nearly all who testified took issue with the potential cap on the number of short-term rentals, saying it might limit growth and questioning whether it would actually improve housing costs in rural Lewis County.
The first to testify in person, Irene Botero, shared that her family had recently invested in a second short-term rental (STR) on the same parcel as their first and that the proposed rule limiting the number of STRs could render their investment useless.
“All that meticulous saving and planning is about to be wiped out by the commission's proposed rule that limits the rental of two STRs on one lot,” Botero said. “While my family will be financially devastated by this proposed rule, others will suffer as well.”
After the Planning Commission Chair Frank Corbin and the rest of the commissioners extended the initial end time of the meeting beyond 9 p.m. to hear all those who wanted to offer public testimony, they closed the oral record, but extended the deadline to receive written public testimony to July 21 at 4 p.m.
The deliberation part of the public hearing has also been extended to the commission's July 22 meeting where the members of the commission will be able to process the feedback heard during public testimony and decide on next steps. After deliberations, the commission may make official recommendations on the proposed regulations to the Lewis County Board of Commissioners.
As part of the periodic update process, the planning commission has already held public hearings and made rule recommendations to the Lewis County Board of Commissioners concerning the county’s comprehensive plan and zoning designations at the commission's meeting on May 13. After completing their recommendations on development regulations, the commission will move on to the critical areas ordinance.
Residents who want to take a closer look at the proposed regulations and the comprehensive plan periodic update process can visit https://tinyurl.com/4u8unx9p for more information.
