PORT ANGELES – Port Angeles’ recent short-term rental code change has forced a handful of people who were fully compliant with the previous code to make large updates to their units if they want to stay in compliance.
This code change, which altered the definition of a Type 1 short-term rental, is the third code change since the council adopted new short-term rental regulations last March. Many owners are worried that the council will make further changes that again make their compliant units non-compliant.
Since last year, short-term rentals in Port Angeles have three categories: bed and breakfast, Type I or Type II.
Type I short-term rental licenses, which have no cap, were previously defined as dwellings that are the owner or lessee’s principal residence. Type II licenses, which are limited to 200, are those that are not the owner’s or lessee’s principal residence.
Under these definitions, about six Type I licenses were issued to individuals who had detached rooms in their garages or backyards. Many of these residences had been surveyed by city staff and determined to be Type I rentals based on the definitions adopted by the city council, according to the owners.
A code update on May 8 of this year changed the Type I definition, allowing these licenses to only be issued for a property where the rental rooms are located within the same structure as the person’s primary residence.
All other units that are not bed and breakfasts are now classified as Type II.
The change “clears up the spirit of what we passed a year ago,” council member Navarra Carr said in a city council meeting. One of the reasons for the larger short-term rental code changes was to limit the number of housing units used for short-term rentals and increase housing stock in the city.
The residences affected by the code change can retain their Type I licenses until they expire, at which point they must apply for a Type II license.
All but 16 of the available 200 Type II licenses have been issued as of Friday, however. If the owners wait until their current license expires, they said they’ve been told there likely will not be any licenses left.
Because of this, staff gave the individuals affected by the change about two weeks to decide if they wanted to immediately license as a Type II. Those who chose to do so were given priority in the queue of people waiting for Type II licenses and were refunded for the remainder of their Type I licenses.
Switching classifications involves more than semantics, however; these individuals must bring their units in line with the International Residential Code for “dwelling units” which includes permanent cooking facilities and plumbing fixtures, according to city Communications Coordinator Jessica Straits.
For Cosmin Iuga, this involved turning a kitchenette into a full kitchen, which cost about $900. For Vanessa Baker, this would require installing a stove and getting a unique address for the satellite bedroom. For Lorrie Mittmann, this will involve doing electrical work to install a stove and a ventilation hood.
As of Friday, five of the impacted owners chose to register for a Type II license. City staff gave these owners 90 days to show they were making progress on the requirements needed to turn their bedrooms into full ADU’s. Those who make a good faith effort to move forward will be given a 90-day extension, according to Straits.
But for owners who are fully booked for the upcoming busy season, finding any time to make those changes may be difficult.
“We understand that the high tourist season is approaching, and we do not want anyone to have to cancel existing bookings in order to make necessary renovations or upgrades,” Straits said.
Baker turned down the chance to be prioritized for a Type II license because she didn’t have the funds. If there are no available Type II licenses when Baker’s license comes up for renewal and if nothing in the code changes, she said her short-term rental will likely have to be pulled from the market – removing a large source of income that helps pay the family’s bills in the winter.
To avoid these outcomes and costly updates, some owners asked the city to “grandfather in” their short-term rentals, which would allow them to keep operating as Type I’s until the units are decommissioned or sold.
There is precedence for this kind of code addition. Last August, the council allowed individuals who had been fully compliant with previous short-term rental codes to grandfather in additional Type II units, despite a code requirement that only allowed one unit per parcel, per owner and per marital unit.
Council members Drew Meyer and Brendan Meyer supported the grandfathering in of six affected residences at a previous city council meeting. They were outvoted by the five other council members, however.
Baker asked that the city add a third type of short-term rentals, Type III, as a category for detached dwelling units that aren’t full accessory dwelling units. However, her email to city council members had not been returned as of Friday afternoon.
During the council meeting May 20, council member Drew Schwab moved to discuss the impacts of the Type I code change, but it died for lack of second. The next scheduled time for the city council to discuss the entire code and its impacts is during a November work session.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
