12/12/2020
To my fellow Manson, WA and chelan county natives, friends, people who enjoy visiting Lake Chelan and guests of lakefront getaway,
The chelan county commissioners, specifically Doug England, are rushing to pass legislation by December 29th that will retroactively take away people’s property rights. They are ramming through this harmful legislation in the middle of an already difficult economic period and in a time where our voices can only be heard through Muted Zoom calls.
The proposed legislation states that if you currently have a short term rental you can continue to do so for three years. After that you go into a lottery and you can “hope” you win. The problem is you won’t win because currently 11.2% of the houses in Manson are short term rentals and Doug wants to get it to below 5%. If you are not currently licensed you have virtually no hope of ever winning the lottery.
To all of our fellow neighbors in Chelan County,
We understand the issues that some short term rentals have created in your neighborhood and community. We and our fellow short term rental owners are Committed to work with the Chelan County Commissioners to find legislative solutions that address your valid concerns AND avoid the dramatic financial impacts that will happen should the Commissioners vote to adopt the proposed legislation on December 22nd.
This will impact all chelan county visitors and tax payers. Think of the impact to real estate values if you can’t utilize your home for a short term rental.
Financial impacts that impact all of our neighbors:
• Elimination of 2/3’s of Vacation Rentals
• Each year, visitors spend more than 1 million nights in Chelan county’s rural vacation rentals
• These visitors generate more than $150 million in economic activity, creating 1400 local jobs and paying $42 million in wages
• The impacts for far beyond rentals, with these visitors spending $38 million on food and beverage, $16 million on entertainment and recreation, and $36 million on retail sales.
My Proposal
Avoid the doomsday proposal and Adopt on December 22nd the following:
• Mandatory licensing
• Operating standards (parking, trash, occupancy, noise) prescribed by the county
• Code of conduct for both STR owners and guests
• Licensing fees/Surtax to cover enforcement including credible threat of loss of license for failure to meet standards
Form a task force including members of the business community, short term rental owners, and concerned citizens to address:
• Additional measures
• Surtax to assist in creating additional affordable housing
Let’s jointly work on the real problem, nuisances created by non-compliant Short Term Rental Operators and guests conducting themselves without respect for those around them. Let’s not solve this by devastating our local economy in an already incredibly difficult time for all of us.
Respectfully,
Your Neighbors
Tim and Kristen Miller
If you agree please call Doug England or email both Doug and the county commissioners email below:
[email protected]
[email protected]
https://www.q13fox.com/video/879925
A proposal could stop some people from being able to use vacation rentals in Chelan County, Washington.
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