Director of Community Development clarifies Planning Commission Recommendations for STRs.

We have found that the subject of Short Term Rentals (STR) has been of great concern for many of our members. So we reached out to Clatsop County for clarification and received the following from Gail Hendrickson Director of Community Development. She indicated that the Planning Commission is recommending that STRs should only be in commercial building zones and that no STR will be permitted in Residential Building Zone.

At the March 8 meeting the Planning Commission voted to limit all STRs to commercial Building Zones. This is being forwarded to the County Commissioners on April 13, 2022. This will have a major impact on all residential communities including Surf Pines so no matter what your opinion is on this matter Gail recommends that interested stakeholders should share their thoughts at this hearing.

From: Gail Henrikson <ghenrikson@co.clatsop.or.us>
Subject: RE: Minutes of the March 8 Planning Commission meeting
Date: March 14, 2022 at 3:06:46 PM PDT
To: ‘Thomas Smith’ <tsmith@surfpines.org

Good afternoon, Mr. Smith.

Draft minutes are not completed.  We have asked the County’s Manager’s staff to post the video and are still waiting for that to be completed. The video will be posted here. ^{(Total meeting video is available here)}

The Planning Commission voted to allow STRs in the following zones:

• Arch Cape Rural Community Residential (AC-RCR)
• Rural Community Multi-Family Residential (RC-MFR)
• Rural Service Area – Multi-Family Residential (RSA-MFR)
• Rural Community Commercial (RCR)
• Neighborhood Commercial (NC)
• General Commercial (GC)
• Tourist Commercial (TC)

Surf Pines is not included in any of the proposed areas the Planning Commission has recommended. 

Under the revisions recommended by the Planning Commission, any STR in one of the above zones would be required to have a public hearing to renew or obtain a new STR permit.  The current fee for a conditional use public hearing is $1,500, which would be in addition to the $550 STR permit.

The Planning Commission also recommended the Arch Cape STR operating standards be moved from the zoning code (LAWDUC) to the Clatsop County Code and that code citations be updated as applicable.  The Planning Commission also recommended that the Board consider instituting a cap on STRs in the zones listed above, in addition to requiring a public hearing.

The Planning Commission’s recommendations will be presented to the Board on April 13 for a first public hearing (tentative date). The Board may accept the Planning Commission’s recommendation, reject it, or modify it. 

If you have any opinions regarding this issue you want to direct comments to Theresa Dursse, Clerk of the Board (tdursse@co.clatsop.or.us).  She can forward comments to the Board.  You may also email the Board members directly at commissioners@co.clatsop.or.us.