City Council Review of Short-Term Rental Regulations

Current Actions

City Council Action

After the public hearing on June 15, City Council requested that staff return for a Work Session for the next steps on an ordinance for STRs. At the July 13 City Council Work Session, Council moved to direct the City Manager to revise the June 15 ordinance to require short-term rentals to register and provide local contact information and return to Council for action on the revised ordinance.

Ad Hoc Committee Meetings

At the December 11 Work Session City Council directed staff to form an Ad Hoc Committee to make recommendations to City staff and departments regarding the regulation of STRs. The Committee has been selected and consists of 16 community members listed below representing STR owners and operators, impacted neighbors, housing advocates, and special interests for tourism and economic development.

Pete Frost- Impacted neighbor
Shawn Winter- Impacted neighbor
Tiffany VanderZanden- Impacted neighbor
Bill Aspegren- Impacted neighbor
Jojo Jensen- Impacted neighbor
Andy Vobora- Special Interest (Travel Lane County)
John Barofsky- Special Interest (Lodging)
Alma Fumiko Hesus- Housing Advocate
Ellie Johnson- Housing Advocate
Rebecca Blankenship- Housing Advocate
Betsy Schultz- Housing Advocate
Jennifer Sherlock- Owner/operator non-owner occupied
Eve Montanaro- Owner/operator non-owner occupied
Mike Grudzien- Owner/operator non-owner occupied
Shayla Duke- Owner/operator owner occupied
Joseph Huynh- Owner/operator owner occupied

The STR Ad Hoc Committee met three times in Winter 2020. Notes and recordings are available below.

Meeting #1- Thursday, January 30from 6:15-7:45pm
- Meeting notes can be found here.
Meeting #2- Tuesday, March 3 from 6:15-8:30pm
Meeting #3- Thursday, May 7 at 6:30
- The Zoom meeting was recorded and is available to download here for a 30 day period.
- The access password is 9a##y$dB

Resources

Open House

City Staff and Ad Hoc Committee members hosted an Open House on February 11, 2020 to hear from the Community about the effects of STRs in Eugene.
- Open House notes can be found here.

Survey

City staff launched a survey to gather community feedback on STRs in Eugene. The survey was open through the month of February and the information gathered was shared with the Ad Hoc Committee. A summary of the survey results can be found here.

Public Comment

Public Comment was collected from the community throughout the duration of the City Council discussion on STRs. Public Comment through March 3, 2020 has been combined, and is accessible here.

Studies

Renters Survey Summary

Published Study- STRs in Small Cities in Oregon: Impacts and Regulations

Project Summary- STRs in Small Cities in Oregon: Impacts and Regulations

Articles

A number of local and national articles have been published about impacts from STRs. A compilation of these articles’ links is included here. This list is not meant to be all-inclusive. It represents the links and articles that were either published locally or sent to staff from the community.

Background

September 2019

City Council requested a work session to review the Short-Term Rental (STR) regulations in Eugene. That work session was held Sept. 23, 2019. Building Permit Services Director Lydia Kaye gave a presentation about the benefits and challenges, what other cities have done, and options for local regulations.

At the Sept. 23 meeting Council directed the City Manager to draft an ordinance for deliberation before the end of the year that amends Eugene Code Chapter 3 (Business Regulation and Taxation) to add a short-term rental licensure program and that includes as part of the licensure program at least the following items:

Yearly license fee
Owner-occupancy requirement
Limit on the number of days a unit can be rented
Basis for license revocation, including number of complaints per calendar year
Requirements for on-line platforms to assist in regulations
Parking requirements

Sept. 23 City Council Work Session Materials

December 2019

On December 11, City Council held a work session to discuss the draft ordinance that resulted, per City Council’s request, from the initial work session on Short Term Rentals on September 23. Prior to that work session City Council received many emails regarding STRs, both in support of more regulation and in support of owners and operators of STRs. They also heard from over 20 community members regarding STRs at their Public Forum on Monday, December 9. See below for the background leading up to this meeting including direct links to the relevant City Council Meetings and Work Session materials and recordings. The main takeaways from the City Council Work Session were:

To slow down the process to ensure that more impacted groups and persons can be heard.
To collect information to determine what the problems truly are.
To create an ad hoc committee including STR operators, neighbors, and other interested parties to develop recommendations for staff to take back to Council this spring.
To adopt any new regulations before City Council’s summer break in 2020.

Dec. 11 City Council Work Session Materials:

See the December 9 City Council Meeting – Public Forum Recording for testimony from the community regarding short term rentals.

May 2020

City Council discussed short-term rentals at the May 20, 2020 work session. After a lengthy discussion, they directed the City Manager to prepare an ordinance and schedule a June public hearing and July action requiring short term rentals to obtain a license from the City with the only license requirement being the provision of information related to the STR (such as whether or not the STR is owner-occupied and a local contact number) and the quarterly provision of information regarding rental dates, the number of nights stayed by each rental party, and the number of occupants per stay, and the ordinance including an enforceability mechanism and a fee to support the program.

June 2020

A public hearing was held on June 15, 2020. A recording of the hearing and meeting materials can be found here. The hearing served as an opportunity for the public to comment on an ordinance requiring STRs obtain a business license, including an enforcement mechanism. While no specific motion was made, Council directed staff to return for another work session.

The draft ordinance can be reviewed at this link.