|
 Huge thank yous to everyone who signed our petition on Short Term Rentals (STRs). In just one week we were able to collect 494 signatures between our online and paper copy petitions. Your smart, heartfelt comments made a difference as the Board of Commissioners reached consensus to follow your suggested approach at their August 20th hearing. We want to thank the Commissioners for being open to exploring different approaches to regulating STRs and considering the opinions of Hood River locals.
The Commission directed planning staff to come back to them with new code language to vote on at their October 15th meeting. Here is what they recommended:
- Adopt the Planning Commission’s recommendation for a robust residency requirement. In order to operate an STR, it must be the operator’s primary residence.
- Proof of residency requires two of the following showing the STR as the operators primary residence:
- Oregon Driver’s License
- Voter Registration
- Oregon Income Tax Form
- Hood River County Resident ID Card
- Remove the cap on the number of STRs
- Add a grandfathering provision so that STRs that have been paying Transient Room Tax since 2016 can continue to operate even if not resident-operated for 7 years
- Prohibit STRs on resource lands (farm and forest zones) and instead use Bed and Breakfast regulations to permit short term rentals in those zones
With this in place, Hood River residents can rent out a spare bedroom or even their whole house when on vacation, but it remains their real home. This eliminates STRs as a source of funding for out-of-town investors but allows real residents to earn income, maybe the extra they need to stay in their home or weather economic hard times.
We’ll be following the code language as its developed by staff. The proposed new code will be presented at a Board of Commissioner hearing on November 19 at 6 pm at the County Administration Building, 601 State Street.
Thanks again for your help in keeping Hood River a real community.
|
