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Westfir reviews short-term rental ordinance draft; staff proposes modest initial rules
Summary
Council discussed a draft short-term rental ordinance that would add an information addendum to the business license, limit standalone vacation-home permits to about 5% of units and hosted home shares to about 20%, and rely on state/county safety rules rather than city-run inspections.
Council reviewed a draft short-term rental (vacation rental) ordinance modeled in part on Cascade Locks—approach. Planning staff said Cascade Locks pairs a permit application with an inspection checklist and requires third-party inspections; council questioned whether Westfir wants to adopt that inspection model or a lighter-touch approach.
Staff proposed starting with a business-license addendum to collect basic information (address, listing URL, number of bedrooms, emergency contact) and to require adherence to existing state and county safety codes rather than city-conducted inspections. On caps, staff proposed allowing short-term vacation-home rentals equal to 5% of Westfir—s residential units and hosted home shares up to 20% of units; staff translated those percentages to approximately seven vacation-home permits and 27 hosted home-share permits given current water-account numbers. Council members said starting with a modest approach to collect data and monitor impacts made sense before layering additional inspections or fees.
