Bend residents react to vacation rental debate

Monte Payne has lived in his Westside Bend home off Federal Street for seven years. He’s seen neighbors come and go, replaced by tourists and vacation rentals.

“My neighbor down the street is surrounded on all four sides. There are about 4-5 per block when there used to be two,” Payne, a retired firefighter, said Thursday.

To him, it’s not a neighborhood anymore. It’s become the “hotel district.”

“I realize that’s part of the city’s plan to promote tourism and everything, but the density is a problem,” Payne said.

At Wednesday night’s Bend City Council meeting, city Business Advocate Carolyn Eagan said Bend has 366 identified vacation rental properties, but over 100 did not have proper city planning approval.

Among the speakers at the meeting was Victoria Smith, the president of Alpenglow Vacation Rentals Inc. in Bend, who said she’d never been to a council meeting before.

“I have made it a point from the beginning to make sure all of my homeowners are licensed and permitted and adhering to the rules and regulations set forth by the city of Bend,” Smith said.

Smith made a plea to city councilors Wednesday night to make sure vacation rentals are regulated and following the rules properly.

“I wanted to express to city council that as a property management company, we do post signs in the homes that this is a residential neighborhood, there’s a city noise ordinance and that they can get a $650 ticket,” Smith said.

But Payne said she is worried if the permitting process doesn’t change, his neighborhood could change for the worse.

“This neighborhood would be lost forever,” he said. “There needs to be a balance so that the vacation property managers can make a living, but we still have a community..

Councilors expect to revisit the issue in two weeks, when city staff returns with answers to some of the legal and planning issues, along with some options and a timeline. There could be steps as soon as November toward imposing a yearly, renewable fee to check that rentals are following codes and regulations. Another issue would involve setting caps or density limits for vacation rentals, as many cities have done.