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Council resists carve-out to allow vacation rentals in commercial zone; advises owners to pursue other commercial uses
Summary
A property owner asked the council to permit short-term rentals on a parcel zoned highway commercial; planning staff said short-term rentals were made prohibited in commercial zones last year, council members warned a carve-out would set a precedent and noted the property already has unpermitted ADUs.
Hurricane — Property owners seeking permission to use a site in a highway commercial district for short-term rentals asked the council for flexibility because the parcel is unusual and partly surrounded by storage units. Planning staff told the council the city updated commercial-zone regulations last year to prohibit short-term rentals in commercial zones; the only way short-term visitor lodging is permitted in commercial zones is where a property functions as a hotel with 10 or more units.
"Each of our commercial zones has a use table. And I believe it was last year, the council requested that we update the commercial zones to disallow short term rentals in all the commercial zones," planning staff (S20) said. He added that a hotel use (10 units or more) would be treated differently under the code. Residents and potential buyers described the site as tucked off State Street with existing unpermitted accessory units and asked whether the council would make an exception.
Council members expressed reluctance to open the ordinance for a one-off exception, saying a carve-out in one commercial location would create a precedent that could be hard to contain. They suggested that the property owners explore permitted commercial uses or pursue a formal zone change process if they wished to convert the site to a different use category.
A public commenter said the owners have roots in the community and are exploring ways to make the location useful to both tourists and locals. The council did not approve an exception and instead encouraged the owners to explore alternatives consistent with current commercial zoning or a formal rezoning process.
