City passes ordinance on short-term rentals

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The Port Townsend City Council voted 5-1 on May 15 in favor of an ordinance setting rules for short-term rentals and lifting a temporary ban on the receipt and processing of applications for tourist homes and bed-and-breakfast inns.

The ordinance has several requirements, including:

• The owner of a tourist home must be on site during the time the rental activity is taking place.

• A tourist home must have a common entry for both the guests and owner.

• Kitchens are not allowed, but a microwave oven and mini refrigerator are allowed.

• The business license number of the establishment is to be displayed on all advertisements, including online advertisements. The city also plans to post a list of approved tourist homes on its website so that residents know which tourist homes are officially approved.

[RELATED: Ordinance 3172 (PDF)]

SHARED ENTRANCE

Council member Bob Gray gave the sole “no” vote and questioned the requirement for a common entrance. He said owners should have the option for a separate entrance.

“The first thing that came to mind was a security issue … if you had visitors coming in the front door as your family comes in the front door. How would that not be a security issue for strangers walking through your house?” Gray asked.

“Whether you know these people or not, they’re coming in, they’re looking at the jewelry, they’re looking at the computers, they’re looking at your kids. And you don’t know who these people are and you’re not going to be there the whole time.”

Council member Michelle Sandoval said that’s how it has always been, adding that Airbnb rentals are the same way.

“[Guests] have access to the whole house,” Sandoval said.

OWNER MUST BE ON SITE

Gray also said the requirement that the owner be on site is vague and unenforceable.

He said the way in which the ordinance is written might lead a tourist home operator to believe they would have to remain in their home 24 hours a day just in case the guests come back.

Lance Bailey, director of development for the city, said the intent isn’t that the owners are to be at home all day long, but just that they are not out of town.

City attorney Steve Gross said the “on site” requirement would only be brought up as a secondary offense in the event of a bigger problem with guests at a tourist home.

“If there’s a noise violation or something else, then it’s going to be ‘Where were you when this happened?’ ‘Oh, I was in Palm Springs for the week’ … [then] you weren’t on site,” Gross said.

Sandoval said the intent isn’t to make owners prisoners in their own home, but that she wanted to ensure that the owner is in the area.

She said there are several tourist homes near her home, but that the owners aren’t there during the summer.

“And so there has been two instances in which the entire neighborhood for a block has had to come together in the middle of the night to deal with issues because there’s nobody home,” Sandoval said.

The problems her neighborhood had was with barking dogs and a wild wedding party.

“It’s Saturday night every day of the week for those people that come to visit, and for people that actually work here, it is not Saturday night every night,” Sandoval said.

Sandoval said one problem is there are homes with ADUs built in and “they’re renting out those places and they’re not home. These are people’s second home, third home, fourth home, whatever, because our community happens to attract people who can indeed afford a plethora of homes.

“And so what they’re doing is advertising and having people come; they have a key box outside. They never enter the main house, and those [owners] aren’t home.”

Sandoval added that most guests do not cause problems.

Gray said the tourist homes are an economic boon to the city.

“We sell out during the summer. If it wasn’t for those short-term rentals, then we would be losing a lot economically,” he said.

“I believe our city has always appreciated and promoted home-based businesses,” he said, adding that a massage therapist, hair stylist and jewelry maker all run businesses out of their homes near him.

Mayor Deborah Stinson agreed with Gray, but said the rest of the community needs to be protected.

NO INSURANCE

The ordinance does not require insurance for operating a tourist home.

Gross said the only businesses for which the city requires insurance are adult entertainment businesses and vehicles for hire.

Regardless, Sandoval argued it would be a good idea to have commercial insurance and said it is possible – but unlikely – for a homeowner’s mortgage lender to be called if their home is used for commercial purposes.

Sandoval said she wants to require commercial insurance as part of the conditional-use permit for tourist homes to protect property owners living near the tourist home if there is a fire that spreads to multiple homes, for example.

“The insurance company could in fact deny the claim and that would be that,” Sandoval said.

“And then not only are we talking about that individual who made the choice to not notify their insurance, but it could actually create some problems for the neighbors.

“This is not just like any other business. This is not a commercial area, this is a residential area,” she said.

ECONOMICS

Sandoval said she agrees with the ordinance’s statement that residential neighborhoods are essential to the city’s economic strength, but thinks the wording could be improved.

“I think one of the reasons why we are in a housing crisis and why so much angst and just controversy about the Airbnb kind of economy is that someplace along the way, we decided that residential property is supposed to make us money and that was never the case just a generation ago.

“And now people feel that it’s a property rights prerogative to make money off of your home. People move into residential neighborhoods to live quiet enjoyment. It’s not for the purposes of making money off of your home,” she said.

“Our overwhelming role as councilors is to ensure that our locals and our local neighborhoods are taken care of. I don’t think our no. 1 role is to make those neighborhoods economically viable.”

As a result of the discussion, the phrasing was changed to “economic stability and community vitality.”