Measure 4-221 is bad for Clatsop County. After years of community review, the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved codifying vacation rentals in the unincorporated areas of the county. There is no commonsense reason to target the elimination of Cove Beach’s roughly 18 vacation rentals, and select others in remote parts of the county, with a punitive ban that singles them out.

We have excellent and capable leaders who, for good reason and after exhaustive deliberation, unanimously decided it made good sense to approve and codify these already existing vacation rentals. Why is this? It’s partly because we and our guests spend thousands annually in local restaurants, shops and retail establishments. We contribute monthly to the North Coast Land Conservancy to protect the Cape Falcon Marine Reserve. These are good things.

Banning vacation rentals in Cove Beach does not add to workforce housing in Warrenton, Seaside or Astoria; instead, it diverts resources, resulting in less workforce housing, not more! The measure will cost the county at least $700,000 annually. How many everyday people in our community will be hurt by this ill-conceived ballot referendum?

Our family has been visiting the North Coast since the 1940s! Our grandfather was one of the Portland engineers who designed the Astoria Column. Why, after generations spent in harmony in this very beautiful and special place, would a ballot referendum target our family’s home and legacy, and those of our neighbors?

John and Maria Meyer

Cove Beach