Although she was hired in no small part to address public concerns with Web-based short-term rentals such as those through Airbnb, Port Townsend’s code compliance officer has spent most of her time responding to calls on health and safety issues.

Not long after Katie Quesada started work as the city’s code compliance officer on May 16, 2016, she found herself dealing with what city planning director Lance Bailey called “a pent-up demand for code enforcement.”

Bailey explained that for years, the City Council had wanted to hire a full-time employee who would serve as “the single point of contact” on code enforcement.

Not only does Quesada have years of experience in planning, zoning, community development and permitting, both in Seattle and on Bainbridge Island, she also has worked as a parking enforcement officer for the Bainbridge Island Police Department.

Since coming to Port Townsend, she’s closed 65 code compliance cases, including several that were opened before her tenure began. Bailey estimated that she was handed at least 100 unresolved cases on her first day on the job, and she went on 96 more calls in 2016.

“Even as she’s cleared out old cases, the level of complaints submitted has gone up, now that she’s here to answer them,” Bailey said.

“It’s a form of triage,” Quesada said. “I’ll assign myself code compliance cases, prioritizing life and safety over issues like sign compliance. I try to respond to all calls within a day or two.”

Quesada often strives to make a determination within a week or so, after which she sends out a “first touch” letter, requesting compliance within windows ranging from 14 to 30 days, depending on what expectation she feels is more realistic.

Although Quesada can resort to more formal notices of order violation, which incurs fines and civil citations along the way, she’s found that education is enough to prompt compliance in many cases, and when it’s not, it’s frequently due to a lack of resources.

“We have methods with successively more teeth, to encourage compliance that way,” Quesada said. “But if people don’t have the money or the means to comply right away, we find ourselves dealing with a lot of the same issues as social workers.”

And because residents can request investigations into code compliance issues by going onto the city’s website, Quesada has found herself even busier than she’s anticipated during certain times of the year.

“The week before Thanksgiving, my phone was ringing off the hook,” Quesada said. “And just this week, I had the first appeal of one of my cases, so I’ll be writing a report for the city prosecutor and putting together a package for the hearing examiner.”

SHORT-TERM RENTALS

While Quesada’s cases have ranged from fire danger posed by overgrown grass or trees during the summer to neighbors reporting each other’s noise levels and accumulations of trash piles, she and Bailey are conscious of the public concern with services such as Airbnb and Vacation Rental By Owner (VRBO).

“This community has a long history of bed-and-breakfast lodging and vacation homes, but these new short-term rentals have made it easier for property owners to get into,” Bailey said.

In the midst of comprehensive plan and budget updates, the City Council gave the planning commission the task of updating its regulations regarding short-term rentals, which Bailey expects the commission to present to the council by late February.

“The planning commission’s recommendation at this time would basically reaffirm the city’s current policy against allowing non-owner-occupied rentals for 29 days or less,” Bailey said. “What makes this a challenge is that these Web-based companies are not necessarily invested in helping us enforce such codes. They’re not exactly volunteering the information.”

As it stands, Bailey has an assortment of disparate anecdotes regarding the possible impact of these short-term rentals on the housing and hotel markets, but he hastened to add, “The plural of anecdote is not data.”

“I’ve heard stories from folks whose leases haven’t been renewed, and they wondered whether the owners wanted to turn their homes into short-term rentals,” Bailey said. “At the same time, I’ve also spoken to folks who see this as a means of recouping their investments on their property, especially as housing costs continue to go up.”

He added that some homeowners have worried about short-term rentals changing the character of their neighborhoods, as residential streets are forced to take on more commercial levels of traffic.

CITY ENFORCEMENT

Prior to Quesada and Airbnb arriving in Port Townsend, city officials checked up on the compliance of short-term rentals by booking rentals themselves as customers.

“We were essentially pulling sting operations,” Bailey said. “Our staff was devoting time to this issue that took them away from other matters.”

Bailey acknowledged that noncompliant rentals have the potential to cost the city lodging taxes, but he hasn’t heard hoteliers who receive hotel/motel tax grants speak up about Airbnb or its equivalents.

Bailey and Quesada have been brainstorming new methods of enforcement for short-term rentals. David Timmons, city manager, said enforcement options would be presented to the council with the planning commission’s recommendations. The city is concerned with individuals and businesses that are violating land use codes by operating illegal overnight accommodations, and for not paying, collecting and/or reporting taxes, Timmons said.

Timmons explained that Airbnb now accounts for as much as 3 percent of the hotel-motel tax money the city receives. Airbnb provides a lump sum, Timmons said, so the city is unable to determine by the tax receipts which individual participants in Airbnb are actually registered with the city and/or state. Airbnb apparently assesses the local and state tax, whether the individual business or operator is licensed or not.

Clearly, some legally licensed and registered accommodation businesses use Airbnb or other services, Timmons said, while many others using online accommodation platforms are not collecting or paying taxes.

“There will be enforcement,” Timmons said. “We will go after them for land use violations and tax evasion.”

(Staff writer Patrick J. Sullivan contributed to this story.)