Clackamas County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) edged closer
towards repealing county regulations for Short Term Rentals (STRs) in

unincorporated Clackamas County at a June 23 public reading, with a four-to-
one vote to proceed to a final public hearing of the repeal proposal.

The reading provided a fresh airing of long-simmering public grievances, as
Mount Hood residents in attendance detailed the negative impacts of STRs on
their communities. 15 community members spoke at the hearing and urged
the commissioners to act on the matter while highlighting impacts the rentals
have on their neighborhoods.

“The can has got to be stopped being kicked down the road. We need to move
forward with this,” Welches resident Rob Bruce stated. “Please understand,
we’re not against STRs, but we are for community, and we’re losing
community quickly.”

BCC Chair Tootie Smith stated that she and other commissioners are opposed
to the proposed $800 registration fee (covering two years) that would be
required to fund the program.

“I believe it’s quite onerous,” Smith said.

Residents countered the fee was comparable to other county fees, such as the
cost of a mailbox repair, and necessary to implement regulations for issues
including occupancy, building safety and parking that business entities such as
hotels and inns are held accountable for under business zoning code.
Community members testified STRs are largely operated in residential
neighborhoods, often by out-of-town owners and increasingly corporate and
business entities. They detailed STRs impact on issues such as road
easements and access for emergency vehicles.

With no established method for funding and enforcing the program county
counsel urged that the code regarding the registration program and
regulations be removed from the county code.

The commissioners had a scattershot response to the procedural meeting and
were united primarily by opposition to implementing a registration fee.
Commissioner Paul Savas suggested substituting last minute revisions to the
regulations into the repeal process to maintain momentum on the issue.

County Counsel urged that any revisions or amendments be addressed on a
separate track while continuing to recommend that the current code be
repealed due to lack of funding.

“It’s cleaner to repeal the ordinance. This ordinance goes into effect in seven
days and staff will not implement it because we have no funding,” County
Administrator Gary Schmidt stated.

Commissioner Mark Shull called for a rewrite of the regulations to include
maximum occupancy limits and address if the property owner must reside on
site, but both issues are addressed in the current iteration of the regulations.
Commissioners Martha Schrader and Smith voiced opposition to the fee but
expressed the need to create a modified regulatory framework for the STRs.
Commissioner Sonya Fischer stated a need to change the funding source for
the code enforcement but was the lone vote in opposition to repealing the
existing county code governing STRs.

“This commission listened to communities across Clackamas County and
threaded the needle on these regulations,” Fischer said. “These regulations
are good. This (current) board as a whole has not even been briefed on all the
work the previous commission did on the issue.”

The second and final public reading is scheduled for the Sept. 8 BCC meeting.
The commissioners determined to hold policy sessions in the interim and
attempt to draft an alternate registration and regulation program for STRs by
that date in hopes of presenting an alternative to the existing code with a
different means of funding at the time of repeal.

STRs will continue to be allowed in unincorporated Clackamas County as
stated in the Zoning and Development Ordinance but with no regulatory
framework to address community impact.

“I’ve been following the process for three years. It’s amazing to me that given
the length of the process we’ve come back to being nowhere,” said Barbara
Smith, full time Rhododendron resident.

More information about the program is available online at
https://www.clackamas.us/planning/str.