Want to weigh in on the vacation rental debate without joining a committee or showing up to a City Council meeting? You’re in luck. The City of Bend has set up a forum on Bend Voice soliciting input to take back to the Vacation Home Rental Task Force, a committee comprised of stakeholders on all sides of the issue, which will identify concerns and work toward solutions (subject to approval by City Council, of course).
According to a City release, about 50 people applied for the task force and the Bend Planning Commission made a recommendation for 23 finalists. City Council will vote on task force members at its next regular meeting, Nov. 19.
Learn more about what the City is doing with Vacation Home Rentals at www.bendoregon.gov/vacationrentals and share your thoughts at www.bendvoice.org.
This article appears in Nov 13-20, 2014.
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Two vacation rentals located next door to my main residence, eventually after 3 years forced me to sell my home. Living next door to a short term rental property is absolutely impossible. New guests weekly, new sounds weekly, new pets trespassing onto my property….. Ban vacation rentals from residential neighborhoods. Period!
Owners of vacation rentals should live on the property, not rent them out through property management companies. The owners will then be responsible for, and be aware of, any problems with their guests. That was the main focus when vacation rentals began, and would alleviate much of the current hysteria with vacation rentals.
My preference is for a ban on vacation rentals in all residential neighborhoods. A compromise would be to ban them in areas zoned single-family housing and to allow owner-occupied vacation rentals in RM and RH zones. Owner-occupied means that the owner lives on site full-time. Vacation rentals would be allowed in commercial zones too.
I think this is a good compromise. Investors can have their VRs in commercial areas, homeowner-occupants can have theirs in RM & RH, and homeowners who bought in RS with the expectation that it’s residential (and not commercial) can have some peace & quiet.