I’m asking for your help to save our neighborhood by voting yes on Measure 4-221 to repeal Clatsop County Ordinance 22-05 allowing short term rentals (STRs) in all rural Clatsop County residential zones.

I live in a quiet subdivision with modest homes, platted in 1969 along Smith Lake. My neighbors and I walk up and down our road, with little traffic, with the occasional lost camper on their way to Fort Stevens. An additional STR in our neighborhood threatens that quiet.

Not long before the STR moratorium went into effect, a modest home in our subdivision was converted into a STR. The home is only 1,600 square feet, including a converted garage, two bathrooms with four bedrooms on a 100-foot by 100-foot lot. Before the conversion, this home would have been an excellent candidate for a long-term rental, but no longer.

Now it is a STR that has an approved occupancy of 14 people, yes, 14 people, with two bathrooms and parking for five cars. Does that sound like a good idea to you? So, I ask you to do this: Close your eyes and imagine living next to an STR where a group of 14 fishermen with a bunch of boats rent the STR for a week. Then ask yourself this: Would you like to live next to that STR?

If your answer is no, we need your help; please vote yes on Measure 4-221, and help us save our quiet neighborhood.

Paul Putkey

Warrenton