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EDITOR’S NOTE: The first of two public hearings about the new proposed county STR ordinance will be held on May 30th at 5:30 pm at the Port of Tillamook Bay office; the second public hearing will be June 13th also at 5:30 at the Port of Tillamook Bay offices. The hearings are for discussion and consideration of proposed amendments to Ordinance 84 (short-term rentals.) See below for links to ordinance and staff report. The Tillamook Board of Reaaltors has sent the following letter to the Tillamook County Commissioners and Sarah Absher, Tillamook County Community Development Director.)
Date: May 27, 2023
To: The Tillamook Board of County Commissioners & Ms. Sarah Absher
From: The Tillamook County Board of Realtors
Re: Proposed Ordinance #84
The Tillamook County Board of Realtors would like to inform the Board of Commissioners of our position on the proposed Ordinance for Short Terms Rentals that has recently been made available for public perusal & comment.
Realtors are passionate about property rights. We believe in home ownership & the bundle of rights & obligations that are conferred with title. A very basic & long-standing right is the right to rent one’s property to others.
We Realtors feel the issues that seem to have promulgated this desire to limit the ability of second homeowners being able to rent their property for periods of less than 30 days while leaving time for the owner to enjoy it will not be solved with this proposed Ordinance. Dealing with unruly visitors is an enforcement issue, not a land use issue. And no matter what semantics are included in the proposal, it is a land use ordinance.
Limiting the number of short-term rental licenses that may be issued by the County annually will hurt our economy in multiple ways. First, it will affect home sales in many markets. Many buyers buy a second home with the intention of making it their full-time retirement home within a decade. Without the opportunity to offset some of the costs of owning a second home until retirement, many folks will wait until their actual retirement. Second, second homes remaining vacant for appreciable periods of time are an invitation to vandals, break-ins, squatters & other crime. Third, it will cost jobs. It seems disingenuous to limit economic growth in any sector, & especially in such a significant one as tourism, by some arbitrary cap or limit on new permits, but that in effect is what this proposed Ordinance will do in Tillamook County.
In short, although we understand some people feel the “livability” of their neighborhoods has been impacted by the increasing popularity of visitors vacationing at the Coast in a home rather than a hotel or campground, we feel the parking, noise management & waste disposal problems should be addressed by enforcing our existing laws.
Margaret Page, President
Tillamook County Board of Realtors
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