MEETING AGENDA
- 6:30 – 7:00 Neighborhood Reports
- 7:00 – 7:30 Short Term Rentals (Catherine McCoy and Leonard Bauer)
- 7:30 – 7:35 Five-Minute Stretch
- 7:35 – 8:20 Tye Menser, Thurston County Commissioner
- 8:20 – 8:30 Minutes Approval and Agenda Ideas
- 8:30 Adjourn
Council of Neighborhood Associations (CNA) Minutes
- Date: Monday, April 12, 2021
- Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
- Location: Zoom virtual meeting
CNA Meeting Minutes – April 12, 2021, via Zoom, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Present:
Council of Neighborhood Associations Officers: Larry Dzieza (Nottingham) – Chair, Melissa Allen (BHNA) – Vice Chair, and Mark Toy (SWONA) – Co Secretary, Jim Rioux (ENA) – Co-Secretary.
Members: Bob Jacobs GSNA) Bruce Coulter (NWONA), Jenn Wulf (DNA), Dana McAvoy (Eastbay Drive), Helen Wheatly (CRNA) Clydia Cuykendall (Ward Lake Heights), Darrah Johnson (Wildwood NA), Bill Nevue, Charlotte Person (BNA)
City & State Representatives & Presenters: Lydia Moorehead (Community Planning), Yến Huỳnh (City Council), Leonard Baur (Community Planning & Development), Catherine McCoy (Community Planning & Development
Tye Menser, Thurston County Commissioner.
6:30 – 6:50 Neighborhood Reports
Bob Jacobs – All is well.
Jim Rioux – All is well. I’m looking forward to this evening’s presentations.
Bruce Coulter – The only thing to report is that we have a new board member.
Melissa Allen – Nothing new. We are beginning to plan for an August street party. We also found an arborist in our neighborhood to help care for trees that we planted in the past using a Neighborhood Grant.
Clydia Cuykendall – We have scheduled and annual meeting on April 24.
Darah Johnson – Not a lot going on. We will hold our annual meeting in May. We are also looking at renting a dumpster for an invasive species removal event.
Mark Toy – We held an annual meeting on March 18. We elected new officers. I am no longer president. I will switch positions with the current vice president. Our Secretary and Treasurer are new. We are waiting for the City’s decision on our matching grant application.
Bill Nevue – We are planning an annual meeting in May.
Jenn Wulf – Our association was not very active this month. We are working on new ideas to get out of our slump.
Larry Dzieza – Our association is meeting this week. Looking at building a new bus stop shelter. The association is also looking into how to deal with a problem tree at our subdivision entrance.
Charlotte Person – We rented a pressure washer and had a sidewalk cleaning event. We are also waiting for NMG results.
Dana McAvoy – We recently held a business meeting. There was a low turnout. Our president stepping down. We are also waiting for the decision on our matching grant application for a Budd Bay oyster seeding event. We are planning to hold an annual picnic in September.
Helen Wheatley – We are looking for a president right now. We agreed to not get active until vaccines kicked in.
Yến Huỳnh – I am also looking forward to this evening’s presentations.
City Council passed the West Bay Yards agreement I appreciated all the public comments. The City web site will still be active and provide updates.
City Council is looking into measures that we can take to counter Anti -Asian hate.
The Deschutes Parkway cleanup effort is underway. The progress so far is good. The difference I can see is like “night and day”
April is Arts Month. I hope you all can participate n the City’s virtual events.
Lydia Moorhead – The City received 15 grants applications. The total amount requested was $29,000. The City has $23,000 available.
I hope to go to council for approval in May and have contracts signed by end of May. The deadline for project completion is December.
6:50 – 7:33 Short Term Rentals (Catherine McCoy and Leonard Bauer)
Larry opened the discussion by referencing the list of questions, provided below, that the CNA sent to City CP&D.
Questions Sent to City Regarding Short Term Rentals
1) Why is staff proposing up to 10 renters per housing unit? When this was presented to the Land Use and Environment Committee two council members suggested this may be too many guests per unit. Why didn’t staff take the LU&E Committee’s direction? Will not allowing so many renters risk more complaints about “Party Houses”?
2) Why are two short-term rental units per parcel being allowed? This is very impactful to next door neighbors. The “move-in and move-out” traffic and noise from short-term renters can be a problem for neighbors. Isn’t this exacerbated when a neighbor could be sandwiched between four rental units, two rental units on both sides of their property?
3) Would this proposed change enable more short-term rentals? If yes, almost all analysts believe that short-term rentals reduce the availability of affordable housing which would be inconsistent with the policy direction of the City. It seems that allowing multiple short-term rentals on a single property would make it more financially attractive to convert housing that is currently a long-term rental or occupant-owned into a short-term rental.
4) What will be done if repeated parking problems occur? Often if multiple bedrooms are rented, people show up in multiple cars (up to five or six cars). Yet only one additional parking space is required if more than two bedrooms are rented, and one additional space if there are two units.
5) As the owner is not onsite to supervise the renters, what will the City do to address problems with short-term rentals if the proposed 24/7 “local contact” does not solve the problem?
6) Will the City create the account codes and a complaint tracking system that will allow it to evaluate their “good neighbor” performance and to determine if the fees being paid by short-term rentals to the City cover the costs that they generate?
7) How many STRs are currently meeting the current registration requirement with the City? A quick search of AirBnB shows approximately 40 “whole house” units for rent in July.
8) Will the city follow (and if not, why not) the recommendations from the Oregon study cited on the City’s STR related website recommends,
“Impose a clause that revokes a STR permit for properties that receive more than five nuisance complaints in a calendar year.”
“Levy a transient lodging tax (if not imposed at the county level).”
Leonard Bauer started with a brief background presentation. He noted that there will be a public meeting on the staff recommendation on April 9th.
Leonard then introduced Catherine McCoy who gave a power point presentation on the staff recommendation.
Melissa asked to go back to the questions that were submitted and asked how the City landed on the number of units allowed on each parcel and the number of guests allowed per unit.
Members also expressed concerns about the lack of adequate parking requirements, and that there is no requirement for owners to live on site.
Leonard stated that the recommendation was an attempt to balance all the input they received. He also noted that the City currently has no regulations related to short term rentals and that we now have a mechanism to cancel the license of owners that continue to have problems at their property.
Regarding nuisance renters, Leonard stated that neighbors can contact code enforcement. There is also a requirement that the owners have a 24/7 contact number that can respond to complaints. If necessary, neighbors can contact the police.
Jenn Wulf expressed strong concern about starting this program with discussions about getting the police involved.
There was some additional discussion about the difference between a B&B and a “homestay”. Bob asked if B&B’s are currently regulated. Leonard indicated that they are.
Bob stated his position that “homestays” should probably not be regulated at all and that short term rentals should not be allowed at all.
He felt that short term rentals are inconsistent with the guiding principles particularly regarding the goal of increasing permanent housing in a time of severe housing shortages.,
7:33 – 7:38 Five-Minute Stretch
7:35 – 8:20 Tye Menser, Thurston County Commissioner.
Tye introduced himself and stated that he became interested in meeting this group when he learned about it during a casual conversation with Yến at a meeting on another topic.
Tye began by sharing information about the things he was most involved in and motivated by.
His top priority is providing programs and support for alternatives to incarceration. He described how the County is expanding pre-trial services in two directions. He reported that the County has created six new positions to support this expansion. Two FTE have been hired to expand services to district court. Two additional FTE are expanding services for people before they even touch the court system.
The County also created a Criminal Justice Program Manager position. Theis position will address the current lack of data analysis and oversight of our criminal justice program.
The County is also starting a resource hub modeled on the one that currently serves Peirce County. They are hoping to launch the hub in June but it may take longer.
Helen asked how mental health issues are being considered in these efforts. Tye stated that more resource will be available for mental health if pre-trial services are successful. The County will need help from the State.
The other issue Tye spoke about was homelessness. He stated how the new Regional Housing Council in improving collaboration on homelessness. He recognized that the County and Cities have had a broken relationship and that needs to change. He is trying to restore funding previously taken from Cities and hopes to stop fighting with Olympia.
When asked about a homelessness camp on County property he admitted that that has not happened and their does not appear to be a clear path to a future camp. Current County politics has effectively stalled the issue, but he is personally not averse to the concept.
He recognizes the need more permanent supportive housing and feels that things are moving in the right direction.
Mark Toy – asked if there Is there a website for more background? Tye suggested he search for Innovative Justice Sub-Committee
8:20 – 8:30 Minutes Approval and Agenda Ideas
8:30 Adjourn