Sisters City Council talks short-term rentals, new DCSO contract
(Update: Comments from meeting, sheriff's contract)
About 6.5% of Sisters homes are available through a short-term rental
SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- It’s been a little over a year since the city of Sisters adopted new state short-term rental regulations.
The Sisters City Council held a workshop Wednesday evening to discuss how the regulations are faring and some possible program changes and code amendments suggested by residents.
The number of short-term rental permits in Sisters has fluctuated over the past few years. In 2017, the city issued 20 permits. The following year, 44 permits were issued, and in 2019, 11 permits were issued. There’s currently 88 STR licenses in Sisters, or about 6.5% of the homes in the community.
Since the regulations were imposed in 2018, 12 homeowners did not renew their licenses. The 2018 updated ordinance requires short-term rentals to have a 250-foot buffer between property lines. Home-owners that already had a license before the 2018 update were exempt from the rule change.
Sisters Community Development Director Patrick Davenport said the council is happy with how the code changes are working and plan to keep them in place.
"They didn't want that to exceed 10% of our housing stocks, so that is certainly well below that number," Davenport said. "So in that way, that helped accomplish their goal of keeping the growth of short-term rentals limited."
City staff said it has heard some community concerns regarding the licensing of new short-term rentals.
Some residents have asked to be exempted from the required guidelines. Some homeowners would like to rent out their house only for a couple of days a year,or rent out a room while still living in the home.
The city reports it received just one formal complaint last year regarding guest behavior in short-term rentals.
The council plans to once again review the ode changes in about a year.
The city development code's current definition for short-term rentals reads: "The use of a dwelling unit (or a habitable portion of a dwelling unit) by any person or group of persons entitled to occupy the dwelling unit for rent for a period of less than 30 consecutive days.
"A short-term rental also means a vacation home rental approved under the regulations in effect through December 27, 2018, and owner-occupied short-term rentals. A short-term rental does not mean bed and breakfast inns, hotels, and/or motels."
In the past year short-term rentals have generated $113,932 through the city's transient room tax. That money goes to the Chamber of Commerce and the affordable housing reserve fund.
For more information on the Sisters short-term rental program, click here.
At Wednesday night's meeting, the council also took a final look at the new contract the city is working on with the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office to continue providing the city's law enforcement.
The council discussed the addition of a lieutenant to oversee the Sisters area and work closely with both the city and the sheriff's office, along with three dedicated deputies.
The city said it's now ready to move forward with the contract and will officially sign at its March 11 meeting it before it's sent to the sheriff and the county for final approval.
