Bend ready to tackle vacation rental issues

Once in a while, the Bend City Council learns that one byproduct of a problem helps to find — and fund — some potential solutions.

That was the case Wednesday night, when councilors learned that this year’s transient room tax revenues are coming in way ahead of estimates, thanks to one wow of a summer tourist season.

In fact, the tally three months into the fiscal year is 50 percent of what was budgeted to come in for the whole year, said City Manager Eric King.

As a result, the city staff has recommended, and councilors appear ready to agree to spend $200,000 of that unexpected revenue to tackle a relatively recent problem on the city’s plate – at least, a serious problem in the eyes of some residents of Bend’s oldest neighborhoods, south of the downtown core: a surging tide of homes turned into short-term vacation rentals.

Councilors got an earful for hours at their last meeting from residents saying their neighborhoods were being hollowed out by dozens of homes that have become more lucrative vacation rentals.

As a result, they say they are losing long-time neighbors, replaced by perpetual newcomers who often party late and cause traffic, noise and other problems while diminishing their sense of community and stability.

Comments on the issue resumed in Wednesday night’s visitors section, but this time came more from the property owner and manager side of the coin.

And several claimed the stats given last time by vacation rental critics were inaccurate and overstated, and they urged no rush toward annual licensing or other steps councilors have pondered.

Victoria Smith of Alpenglow Vacation Rentals said they should be called “short-term rentals,” as many homes have residents who stay for three or four months, especially in the so-called “shoulder seasons” of fall and spring.

They are renting the homes for things like medical treatment, to check out the area’s winter weather, or provide time to shop for and buy a home. She said fewer than 400 of the 4,600 rental homes in Bend are short-term rentals, by their calculation.

Ben Coffman, who owns two vacation rentals and lives in Bend, said that given some time, those in the industry can offer best practices to deal with the much-voiced problems such as “people partying in our vacation rentals, which we don’t want either.”

But on the other side of the matter was land-use attorney Bruce White, who said the city already has a “legally defensible” path in its code to crack down on vacation rentals and require they go through a more stringent conditional use permit process.

In fact, White called it a “matter of extreme urgency,” saying there have been 145 vacation rental permit applications since the start of the year, 10 in the past week alone, and 73 percent came from the city’s core areas near downtown.

“The horse is leaving the barn here, and we need the council to take some action,” White said. In fact, he said “action is coming to the city,” whether it takes steps or not. He’s urging clients to challenge new permit approvals, calling on the city to impose conditions – and threatening to file appeals to the state if they don’t.

“Well-managed and responsive cities take action to protect their neighborhoods and residents,” he said.

One of White’s clients, Steve Junkins, said he agreed with the critics of a fast path to action – sort of.

“We think the best way to go slow is to just stop – stop issuing permits, put a pause” on them while the issues are addressed, he said.

But city council candidate Ron Boozell took it further, saying the surge in rental price hikes has forced friends and others out of their homes.

“I declare a state of emergency on behalf of my friends,” he said. “I’m calling for a temporary rent hike freeze — today!”

That idea didn’t happen, or even get discussed.

But the council returned to the vacation rental issue at the end of their meeting, after 10 p.m., having wrestled in the interim with the terms of a new contract with the Visit Bend tourism organization.

They also approved about $5 million in new sewer work on the southeast side of town and the Aspen Ridge master planned development in that same area of town, where some residents bemoaned the lack of sidewalks and bike paths on twisting, winding, formerly rural Brosterhous Road – more growth pains coming home to roost.

Back on the vacation rental issue, after City Attorney Mary Winters provided some info and urged caution on the council’s behalf, Assistant City Manager John Skidmore laid out a blueprint of how the staff proposed to proceed, including public outreach.

He also noted that the council already has laid out a work plan for city staff of 25 priority projects – and vacation rentals wasn’t on the list.

But staff has worked out some proposals on the table, which include a 24/7 hotline for people to report problems, so the city can enforce existing regulations.

They also plan to create a project team across several departments to consider what updates in the development code might be needed to clarify the rules on vacation homes.

Issues to be discussed include a proposed annual review (fire inspection etc.,) a “good neighbor policy,” and whether a citywide cap, density maximum or moves to avoid “clustering” of vacation homes.

As for the public outreach element, the city may host some open houses, and/or form a task force involving the industry and residents and also get neighborhood associations involved, said Skidmore, who said there was “no shortage of ideas” on how to solve the issues: “I think there’s a sweet spot to get there.”

The $200,000 budget request is expected to come to the council on Oct. 15, with a Nov. 5 work session on guidelines moving forward and, if all goes well, expected council action in March.

Councilor Doug Knight said he was “delighted to see” the staff’s blueprint, saying it “enables a balanced approach that’s best for the community.”

Colleague Mark Capell echoed those views, while Sally Russell was glad to see the funding for enforcement to be on a faster track. Several city leaders praised the generally “cordial” nature of those involved in the matter.

Jodie Barram aid she was concerned about taking general fund dollars that go toward police and fire services, but said the plus is that having more dedicated code enforcement “frees up public safety officers for other issues.”

Before the meeting adjourned around 11 p.m., King echoed what Skidmore and others had said about the strong potential for solutions on the issues posed by vacation rentals: “I think there’s a sweet spot where we can find the right balance.”