Survey: Coeur d'Alene split on vacation rentals, regulations

COEUR d'ALENE — Vacation rentals were a hot topic during the Coeur d'Alene City Planning Commission meeting Tuesday night.

City planner Sean Holm presented the results of the vacation rental survey the city conducted from Feb. 26 through March 27, which sought to gauge the community's overall feelings about vacation rentals as well as how to go about regulating them.

Holm said according to the vacation rental survey, which had a total of 648 participants, feelings are split.

"The pendulum swung both ways," he said. "Most people encouraged them. It seemed the most level-headed answers we got were people who didn’t actually own them, but understood the need of the people who own these things.

"Ultimately, I think the people that answered that they wouldn’t support (an ordinance) even though they owned one means maybe they aren’t aware that they’re operating illegally at this time."

Right now, the city's zoning code doesn't allow vacation rentals — they are considered illegal, with complaint-based enforcement — even though they are found all throughout city limits and beyond.

Vacation rentals are furnished homes or living spaces that are rented to tourists and travelers as alternatives to hotels and motels. Vacation Rentals By Owner's website lists 228 vacation rentals in Coeur d'Alene.

The city council and the planning commission held a workshop about short-term rentals in January. From there, staff was directed to gather research and input from other municipalities as well as public input.

Nine community members came forward to share their thoughts during a public comment segment of the more than three-hour planning meeting, many defending vacation rentals and some even questioning why the city would need to impose an ordinance at all. Eight of the nine speakers owned or managed properties or worked for a vacation rental business.

"It’s a business and we’re just trying to, for the lack of better words, legalize it just like any business," said commission Vice Chair Tom Messina. "I have a business. It’s construction, but I got to get a state license otherwise I can’t do anything. It’s no different than if you want to drive a car, you need a driver’s license."

Terry Nash, business development manager for Vacasa, said vacation rentals contribute to the positive impact tourism has on Coeur d'Alene. He said when it comes to regulation, "less is best."

"I think the potential for overregulation here is huge," he said. "Personally, I would rather have somebody next door to me that has a vacation rental who’s there a national average of 115 nights, so less than a third of the year, than a potential long-term lease who’s got his car up on blocks and he’s partying every weekend."

He said many of the rentals are generational homes used to bring in revenue to offset rising taxes.

"It is a myth that your typical vacation rental is some out-of-state investor that’s just trying to make a buck and doesn’t even come to Coeur d’Alene or has never been to Coeur d’Alene," he said.

Kathryn Boss was the one public commenter who does not work in the industry, but she does live next door to a vacation rental in the Fort Grounds. She said she urges the city to consider the density of vacation rentals in neighborhoods in order to protect the residents who live there year ’round. She said in her neighborhood, full-time residents are becoming "a bit of an endangered species."

"It changes the feel of the neighborhood," she said. "This is a commercial business. These homes are being purchased, fixed up and a business is running out of them, so every Wednesday evening or Thursday evening a car pulls up and people get out and they’re unloading their suitcases and they’re moving in and Sunday night they pack up and they leave. There is such a high turnover and there are so many in the neighborhood that you don’t get to know them."

She said although she is not against vacation rentals, she feels the reason people move into a neighborhood is altered when the homes are taken out of the residential pool and used as vacation rentals.

"A lot of them aren’t owner-occupied," she said. "They’re constant rentals or they’re empty or we have the other scenario of someone buying the property, scraping it and building a house that they live in three weeks out of the year."

Other topics that came up regarding vacation rental regulation included parking, maximum occupancy and accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which are smaller housing units on the grounds of single family homes.

The city's planning department and commission will be working on creating a vacation rental draft and processing information to bring to the city council in the near future. The planning commission will be meeting again at 5:30 p.m. May 10 in the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.