A committee tasked with tackling issues surrounding vacation rentals in Bandon reached consensus Wednesday, recommending the city cap vacation rental dwellings at 80 and add new fees and restrictions.
The ad hoc committee was formed in September, months after the city paused new vacation rental applications with a 120-day moratorium. The moratorium lapsed in July, but the Bandon City Council voted in October to reinstate it, effective Nov. 5.
The committee’s third and final meeting Wednesday produced a set of recommendations for the city. They include a one-time $1,000 fee on new vacation rental applications, on top of the existing permit fee, and a one-year waiting period after some rentals change hands.
Vacation rentals have been contentious in the coastal community of about 3,300 residents. When the city council adopted the moratorium in February, it cited concerns that vacation rentals were compromising the character of residential neighborhoods and depleting the city’s needed housing.
Bandon currently has 69 vacation rental dwellings. Those are homes visitors book on sites like Airbnb. The committee wants to cap that number at 80.
Committee member Claudine Hundhausen, who pushed for a lower cap, said she wants to be sure the city is focusing on its local residents.
“These people that are buying vacation homes are not voting here. They are not volunteering at the school or the hospital or anywhere else. They don’t live here. It is not a home to them,” she said.
But councilmember Madeline Seymour said the issue isn’t only about outsiders. She said she’s been approached by longtime Beach Loop Drive residents who can’t get a rental permit because their neighborhood has already hit its limit.
Under current rules, vacation rentals can’t make up more than about 30% of the homes in any one neighborhood. The new cap would be added on top of that rule.
“Some of these people are getting ready to move closer to family, and their houses are paid for on Beach Loop, and they don’t want to sell them, and they’d like to have a vacation rental,” Seymour said.
Under the proposed waiting period, someone who buys an existing vacation rental would have to wait a year before applying to rent it out. The rule would apply only to rentals approved since 2018. Older rentals and homes passed down to family members would be exempt.
Committee member Tom Orsi, who also sits on the city’s planning commission, was one of two members who voted against the waiting period. He argued it could hurt buyers who plan to spend time in the homes themselves.
“A lot of people who want to buy a vacation home for themselves also want to have it as a vacation rental for part of the year, so that they can recover part of the expenses that they have,” Orsi said.
Councilor Archie Garrett also voted against the waiting period.
“I do believe some of these vacation rentals, they have built a brand, they have built a business,” Garrett said. “I don’t think we should tell them, well, yeah, you can sell, but the buyer won’t be able to turn it into a vacation rental for the first year.”
The recommendation passed 3-2.
The recommendations now head to the city’s planning commission, which will hold a public hearing Nov. 19 and decide whether to recommend changes to the city’s municipal code. If the commission moves them forward, the city council will take them up Dec. 7.
