Vacation rentals in Astoria now come with a licensing requirement and a cap on the total number allowed in the city.
On Monday, the Astoria City Council voted 4-1 to approve an ordinance establishing a vacation-rental license program and capping the number of rentals at 50. Astoria currently has 43 vacation rentals.
Councilors Andy Davis, Andrea Mazzarella, Elisabeth Adams and Vance Lump voted in favor of the ordinance, saying they see it as a way to get out ahead of a problem other tourism-dependent cities in the region face: a high percentage of vacation rentals and a shortage of long-term housing options.
Over the years, other cities in Clatsop County and neighboring coastal counties have taken a variety of approaches when it comes to addressing short-term rentals.
Under Astoria’s vacation-rental program, people who want to operate a new vacation rental will need to pay a one-time $500 licensing fee. Existing operators will need to pay a $150 annual renewal fee plus $25 for any additional units. The vacation rentals that predate the ordinance will be subject to the renewal fee after the ordinance goes into effect.
Critics told the Astoria City Council they worried about impacts to their businesses and felt the ordinance singled them out. They argued that the city’s fire-and-life safety compliance requirements will duplicate what is already demanded by insurers. But Community Development Director John Roberts said a building inspector would be looking for different things than an insurance inspector and that other cities also have this requirement.
Some critics like Jacob Helligso, who runs several units in Astoria, argued against the proposed cap on vacation rentals, specifically.
“That’s a huge reason why it comes across as punitive and anti-business and anti-short term rental,” Helligso told the councilors, “because of all these different things that are layered into this single ordinance, which presents a barrier to our businesses that we operate and employ here locally.”
Kris Haefker, who operates a short-term rental in a commercial building, worried that the ordinance would limit how he is able to use that building.
“It is not easy to occupy commercial spaces in Astoria,” he said. “Demand kind of comes and goes.”
Others pointed to the steep costs of restoring and maintaining historic buildings and, in some cases, overwater structures; vacation rentals helped ease the financial burden for them, they said.
Mayor Sean Fitzpatrick voted against the ordinance, supporting calls from the vacation rental operators on Monday to table it.
“The contents of this (ordinance), I don’t know that it’s going to change anyone’s life one way or the other,” Fitzpatrick said. “The fees that we’re charging, I don’t know that it’s going to change the city’s finances one way or another.”
“But,” he added, “we have an opportunity tonight to say, ‘You know what, we’re listening to you. Astoria is a business-friendly community or we’re going to become a business-friendly community again.’ Or we can say, ‘You know what, we don’t care.’”
Davis, Adams, Mazzarella and Lump pushed back.
“In my mind, it’s not about trying to destroy short-term rental businesses as they exist right now,” Davis said. “There’s been some accusations of this cap being really arbitrary. We set this cap specifically so it wouldn’t affect existing businesses.”
He noted that Astoria’s license program would live in the municipal code and affect business permitting, not land use or development. Mazzarella and Lump added that licensing fees are a reality for any business. Astoria already regulates Airbnb-type homestay lodging operations.
“I don’t want this to be a message that we don’t care about you or don’t want you to have a thriving business,” Mazzarella said to the audience Monday. “I’m very confused about where you’re reading that, that is the message.”
“It seems like there’s a disconnect or a miscommunication happening and a lot of fear about something happening that isn’t happening,” she added.
The license program goes into effect early next month. Licenses issued this year will be prorated and valid through the end of 2027.