Yesterday I had a friend that moved to Gearhart recently send me a note asking why I support the current ballet measure on vacation rentals in Gearhart. His request prompted me to voice my opinion. As a born and raised proud Gearhart boy I am really outraged by all of this. I have had the opportunity to meet and become friends with so many great people vacationing in Gearhart throughout my life. This I feel was because they have been able to rent homes in Gearhart. I really personally have not seen or heard of that many issues pertaining to short-term rentals. It seems interesting to me that many of people pushing for the present city ordnance really are not long time Gearhart residents and probably arrived here as a tourist at first, but now really don’t want others to enjoy what they found here.

In my opinion it’s all about equal rights for all. It’s not fair that the only rentals allowed are the 80 or so that applied a few months ago. Many never know when they may want or need to rent their homes. So having to get a license now and pay $600 a year till that day comes seems unfair. I feel this whole area is and always has been a tourist driven area. Much of all the amenities this area has to offer that we enjoy daily would not be here if we did not have tourism to support it. You may be one of the residents that started coming here as a tourist and renting. What if you couldn’t have stayed here.

Maybe you would be living in Corvallis next to some rowdy college students. I just feel the current City Council wants to put a wall up around Gearhart. The mayor wants more homes to be available for low income workers to live in, that would be great but the only way that is going to happen is for property values to drop considerably, which would not make the present property owners happy at all. I am all for regulations on how vacation rentals are rented.

Limits on number of occupants, motor vehicles appearance of the house and yard, along with other issues that could become a problem. I feel both the present ordnance and the proposed ordnance cover that area properly. Actually a drive around Gearhart would reveal that many homes that are occupied by the owners would not meet these regulations. As a matter of fact, I believe there are more police calls to permanent homes than short term rental homes. I really feel that Vacation rentals with both of these ordnances will be controlled properly, just feel it is very unfair to limit them to a select few. In closing I hope everyone understands the beach belongs to everyone and we should share access to all. Please vote yes on Measure 4-188.

Jeff Ter Har

Gearhart