Vacation Rental Working Group listens to San Juan voices
Published 1:30 am Friday, February 21, 2020
Submitted by Vacation Rental Working Group.
On Saturday, Feb. 29 the Vacation Rental Working Group will welcome San Juan Islanders from noon to 2 p.m at the Friday Harbor Grange, 152 First Street North, to share their concerns, views and ideas on the topic of vacation rental proliferation in San Juan County. This meeting follows a vibrant series of parallel meetings hosted by the VRWG on Orcas in July, September and October of 2019, and on Lopez in February 2020. In aggregate, hundreds participated.
“At our last meeting,” said Yonatan Aldort, who heads the VRWG, “concerned Lopezians shared some exciting new ideas. Many raised concerns about the excessive water use that inevitably occurs, for example, when nine or more people pack into a vacation rental structure designed for four and permitted for six. On Lopez, we welcomed councilmember Jamie Stephens who spoke openly and brought new meaning to the whole conversation.”
The tourism that supports our economy is morphing into detrimental over-tourism, prompting us to ask the county to impose a moratorium now in order to give ourselves the time and space needed to seek solutions. This and more will be discussed at the Grange on Feb. 29.
The VRWG is an all-volunteer organization formed in June 2019, shortly after the Eastsound and Deer Harbor Planning and Review Committees forwarded moratorium recommendations to the county council. The VRWG has sponsored four widely-attended participatory community conversations on the vacation rental topic, including discussions of data on housing, tourism, and trends in permitting; summaries of regulatory responses in other communities; stress on water and septic infrastructure; and loss of open space and environmental quality. The county council has yet to act on previous proposals for a moratorium or regulatory relief. For more information, visit www.vacationrentalsorcas.org.
