By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Sitka Planning Commission Wednesday approved conditional use permits for two short-term rentals and were split on whether to recommend passage of an Assembly ordinance that would impose a one-year moratorium on issuance of such permits.
All three of the short-term rental issues were on the agenda as separate items. The ordinance before the Assembly hasn’t yet been passed on final reading. If it wins approval it won’t affect the permits were granted at Wednesday’s hour long meeting.
The planning department recommended approval of both short-term rental requests and they were passed without debate.
One was for Michael Starnes and Pamela Musgrove, who told the commission that they love Sitka and have lived here for 10 years, but their jobs are requiring them to move out of town. Their four-bedroom at 109 Erler Street is in the R-1 single family/duplex zone. As a short-term rental it will be under professional management.
While commission member Katie Riley expressed concerns about the density of permits in the neighborhood, she voted in favor, along with Darrell Windsor, Stacy Mudry and Wendy Alderson.
Mudry commented, “This is a perfect example of why we have short-term rentals – so we don’t lose people that want to come back.”
In the second request, Pam and Mike Kernin were granted a permit for the short-term of a one-bedroom unit of their duplex at 114A Jamestown Drive, in the R-1 single family/duplex zone. The apartment has been a long-term rental for decades, but the couple said they would like the flexibility to use the space when their extensive family comes to visit, when the apartment isn’t being used as a rental.
The vote was unanimous in granting the permit. “I hate to lose a long-term rental but I understand your position,” Alderson said.
Commissioners held a lengthy discussion on the proposed permit moratorium being considered by the Assembly, and the motion to support the measure failed on a 2-2 vote.
The ordinance will go before the Assembly at Tuesday’s meeting for a vote on final approval.
Sponsors Kevin Knox and Kevin Mosher said their purpose was to protect the “availability and affordability of housing in Sitka.” They said they were concerned that a proliferation of short-term rentals in residential zones “may threaten the availability and affordability of housing in Sitka.”
The purpose of the moratorium, the ordinance says, is to give the Assembly time to evaluate potential solutions to the housing problem.
Riley and Alderson voted in favor of the motion to support the ordinance for the one-year moratorium, and Mudry and Windsor voted against.
No one spoke against short-term rentals in general, but those in favor said it might make sense to have more criteria for issuance of the permits in residential zones.
“If I as a commissioner felt that there were criteria that enabled me to say yes or no, I would feel differently,” Alderson said. She said decisions on the two permit requests Wednesday weren’t difficult but there have been times when she felt she was not allowed to say “no” to a permit, given the current process.
“That’s why I’d like to see a little more criteria,” she said. “It may be a small trend but I think there’s going to be a growing trend of people buying stand-alone homes (for short term rentals) when they don’t actually live here. It’s not illegal, it’s not wrong, it’s a good business move, but I don’t think it’s good for our community.”
She said she doesn’t want to shut down short-term rentals completely. “I do for a year, but I want some criteria to come out of this. That gives me a little more control.”
Windsor, who was filling in as chairman, said he did not believe the 47 active rentals in the residential zones were affecting the rental market here. “I don’t know if this (the proposed moratorium) is an avenue for making long-term rentals more available,” he said, adding later, “It’s a tough situation but I can’t get my mind around 47 rentals are ruining our rental market.”
A recently released report on short-term rentals, the planning department said, covered only those rentals in residential zones, where conditional use permits are required. Data was not available on short-term rentals in commercial zones, where short-term rentals are a permitted use, the report said.
In the Wednesday discussion, the commission briefly discussed the difference between bed and breakfast permits and short-term rentals. Bed and breakfast permits and debates over them were common through the 1990s. Recent trends in conditional use applications are more toward short term rentals, city planning director Amy Ainslie said.
“A bed and breakfast is so specific in that it’s hosted, it’s the primary residence of the applicant, and you’re not renting out an entire dwelling unit – you’re only renting out rooms in that unit,” she said. “There’s a little more specificity in the code. ... It’s more clear and there are more limitations when it comes to bed and breakfasts. Which is interesting given how most of our discussions have been how a hosted situation has a lot less potential to create negative impact. Yet our bed and breakfast regulations are much tighter than our short-term rentals.”
On a suggestion that a cap be placed on the number of short-term rentals, Alderson said there may be room for more short-term rentals that meet criteria “that in my opinion is healthy for the community.”
“I don’t really have a problem with short-term rentals,” she said. “I do have a problem with ... people coming into the community and buying up houses and driving the property values up, and then paying their second, third mortgage by short-term renting.”
“Especially when they’re renting another spot that could be rented,” agreed Windsor.
Commission members discussed whether it would take a full year for criteria to be established, or to adopt other changes to short-term rental rules.
There was some discussion of enforcement and criteria, but in the end the motion was just on whether to support the ordinance or not, and it failed on the 2-2 vote.
Riley said if the moratorium passes she’s hoping the focus of the next year will be to “find some criteria and suggestions for our code that could lead to more short-term rentals that are going to positively impact our community rather than have a cascade of negative consequences of taking up other long-term rentals, or the buying of second homes by people who don’t live here and might not be as invested in the community character.”
