Voters were narrowly rejecting a ballot measure in the May 16 election that would repeal a Clatsop County vacation rental ordinance.

Measure 4-221 seeks to overturn an ordinance unanimously approved by the county Board of Commissioners last June that recognized vacation rentals as a permitted use in 16 unincorporated zones in the development code.

Voters were split 50.70% to 49.30% — or by 133 votes — with most of the ballots counted.

The measure was placed on the ballot by North Coast Neighbors United, a group mostly made up of residents from the wealthy enclave of Cove Beach on the southern edge of the county and the gated community of Surf Pines near Gearhart.

“However the final count comes out, it’s clear that there is strong support from thousands of local residents to rein in (short-term rentals) in Clatsop County, including implementing zoning restrictions and caps on the numbers of permits that can be issued in a given neighborhood,” Jeff Davis, a Cove Beach resident and co-petitioner of the referendum, said in a statement. “Our communities just can’t afford to lose more residential housing to commercial uses when firefighters, teachers and other community members can’t find homes.

“We call upon the Board of Commissioners to take up the issue of caps and limits to short-term rentals, as they promised to do last year. The time to act is now.”

Leading up to the election, North Coast Neighbors United faced opposition from Everyone For The North Oregon Coast, which was formed last year to support the rights of vacation rental owners.

Marie Gwydir-Moore, one of the group’s leaders and an owner of a small vacation rental company, said the results of the measure will not change anything for the group.

“There are still rentals in the community,” she said. “We’re still leaders within our industry. And if the worst happens, then hopefully we can put it all back together in a better way. The plan is still the same, and that’s to build good things in the community.

“We need to look at our resources and be grateful for them, but figure out how to use them without them being bad for the community, without draining the community,” Gwydir-Moore continued. “So there’s a lot of work to do to change people’s minds. Tourism is our industry, and it’s always going to be.”

Convoluted process

The result of the referendum will touch off the next chapter of a convoluted process that began five years ago.

In 2018, the Board of Commissioners adopted an ordinance that regulated vacation rentals in unincorporated parts of the county. Arch Cape was not included in the ordinance, since vacation rentals in that community have been regulated under a separate ordinance since the early 2000s.

In response to neighborhood divisions over vacation rentals — primarily between property owners in Cove Beach — the county held a series of listening sessions.

The conversations led to a decision by county commissioners in the summer of 2021 to place a moratorium on new permits while the county looked at ways to revise regulations in unincorporated areas. The moratorium was extended four times.

During the moratorium, the county refined regulations and addressed a problem with its regulatory system.

In April 2022, county commissioners approved new rules for vacation rental owners to address common nuisances. The board also shortened the permit length to two years, instead of five years.

The county said it also discovered a mistake that was made when the 2018 ordinance regulating vacation rentals was adopted.

When the 2018 ordinance was approved, the county failed to add the use in the development code, which meant vacation rentals were never formally recognized in unincorporated areas outside of Arch Cape.

As a result, the county said vacation rental permits in those zones were issued in error.

To correct the problem, county commissioners adopted another ordinance in June recognizing vacation rentals as a permitted use in 16 unincorporated zones in the development code.

The Board of Commissioners also discussed placing caps on the number of vacation rentals.

Before those discussions could move forward, the process came to a halt when North Coast Neighbors United collected enough signatures to refer the ordinance to voters in the May election. The residents were among the same property owners in Cove Beach who had complained for years about the effect of vacation rentals on livability and were disappointed by the county’s action.

Referendum

While the referendum only impacts about 100 vacation rentals in unincorporated parts of the county, all voters in the county got to weigh in.

The referendum was endorsed by housing advocates, Clatsop County Democrats and Commissioner Pamela Wev, who voted to approve the ordinance last summer with the understanding that commissioners would consider caps on permits.

North Coast Neighbors United faced opposition from Everyone For The North Oregon Coast, which sought to prevent the measure from making it onto the ballot.

In the fall, the vacation rental owners who make up the group were unsuccessful in challenging the ballot title.

In March, the group filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court asking a judge to deem the referendum unlawful and remove it from the ballot or invalidate the election results.

Judge Kirk Wintermute denied the request in April.

Meanwhile, political activists associated with the Democratic Party filed an election complaint against Everyone For The North Oregon Coast and Gwydir-Moore.

The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office opened an investigation into the complaint, which alleges that the group failed to register as a political action committee and file campaign finance transactions.

Gwydir-Moore has denied the allegations, and said that if a mistake was made, it was done unknowingly.

As of May 16, North Coast Neighbors United raised nearly $28,000, according to the secretary of state’s office website.

Everyone For The North Oregon Coast has raised nearly $93,000.

The most substantial contribution listed for the group is an in-kind contribution for legal services in the amount of $60,000.

In response to questions from The Astorian about the contribution, Gwydir-Moore said the item for $60,000 is an unpaid invoice for legal services since last fall.

She said she reported the invoice out of an abundance of caution given the election complaint filed against her and the group.

Gwydir-Moore said the group does not have the money to cover the bill, but she plans to raise money to help pay it down.

Follow the vote count on the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office website at:

https://results.oregonvotes.gov/ResultsSW.aspx?type=CTYALL&cty=36&map=CTY