City staff outline short‑term rental licensing picture; residents ask council to consider a cap

John, the city’s community development director, presented two letters from the Residents Coalition of Chelan County asking the council to cap short‑term rental (STR) licenses and institute a moratorium on new licenses while the city reviews impacts.

"Right now we have about 410 short‑term rental licenses," John said, adding that most licenses are concentrated in purpose‑built tourist accommodation zones (Lookout, Grandview, Lake Chelan Shores and several condo/timeshare areas). He said conversions of existing long‑term housing into STRs represent about 1% of the city’s housing stock, with most conversions occurring in the downtown mixed‑use and highway service commercial areas.

John told the council that purpose‑built developments were designed to function as resort‑style properties and that such units can be used for long‑term housing if market conditions change. But he acknowledged the Residents Coalition’s concerns about downtown conversions and suggested the council consider a cap targeted to areas with existing housing stock (he cited roughly 35 STRs in downtown mixed‑use areas as a potential focus).

Council members asked for additional neighborhood‑level data; one council member said residents had raised concerns about noise and conversion pressure downtown. Staff noted the city’s land‑capacity analysis (excluding the tourist accommodation zone) shows space for roughly 3,000 housing units outside TA areas, but council members warned high land and construction costs limit what will actually be built.

John said the city has clear authority to regulate and, if council wishes, to cap STR licenses in specific zones; no ordinance vote occurred at the workshop. Staff will provide more detailed maps and conversion figures for future council consideration.