GEARHART Members of the Gearhart Planning Commission and City Council are considering changes in the way short-term rental properties are taxed and regulated within the city.

The members of both bodies met for a work session earlier this month.

The current taxing ordinance for short-term vacation rental properties has an exemption for the approximately 50 single family homes rented out under the citys guidelines. The owners are required to pay Oregons 1 percent lodging tax but do not have to pay Gearharts 7 percent lodging tax.

Gearhart City Administrator Chad Sweet estimated that the city is losing about $95,000 per year through the exemption. He based that on a preliminary count of properties and a 30-percent occupancy rate, a number that is in line with the multi-family properties that lso are covered under the ordinance.

Those condominium and apartment rentals and hotels covered by the ordinance are expected to bring in about $180,000 to the city this year.

Another challenge for the city is that there is no overall ordinance requiring inspections or spelling out occupancy, among other things, for short-term vacation rentals within the city.

Sweet said he found through his research that single family homes are a popular rental option right now. It allows people to pool resources and utilize facilities like kitchens that can reduce the cost of a vacation, he said.

The commissioners and council members, including Mayor Diane Widdop, broke into three groups at the work session to discuss whether a short-term rental ordinance would be good for Gearhart, and if so, whether or not there should be a limit to the number of homes included.

After about 30 minutes of debate the three groups came back to answer the basic questions with pros and cons (see box).

I dont think its fair, said City Councilor Dan Jesse. He said he believes treating the single family homes the same as other vacation rental properties levels the playing field and allows the city to have a little more control over whats happening in the community.

Joy Sigler, owner of the Pacific Crest Cottage and a member of the Gearhart City Council, said there is some uniqueness to Gearhart, thanks to things like lot sizes and infrastructure.

Can we think for a minute why a house is built? she said. Its built to be occupied.

Sigler said she did not want to impose an ordinance on individuals within the community who only occasionally rent their homes or do all the work themselves.

Echoing Sigler, Clatsop County Commissioner Sarah Nebeker, who was in the audience, said she knew people who would have lost their homes during the recent recession if they had not been able to rent them.

I felt like it was saving some homes, she told the group. Before being elected to the county commission, Nebeker was a longtime member of the Gearhart Planning Commission.

Planning Commission member Carl Anderson suggested the group consider a third alternative, other than doing nothing or writing a new ordinance. In what the group members were jokingly calling the Carl Compromise they would remove the exception from the existing tax ordinance.

The whole advantage of what were saying is moving toward data collection, Anderson said. He told the group he thought this would allow them to get a fuller picture of the number of single family vacation rentals within the town.

In Cannon Beach, vacation rentals are identified as either short-term rentals or vacation homes. There are an unlimited number of vacation homes, but owners are only able to rent them to one individual or group every 14 days. Short-term rental licenses, which are capped at 92, non-transferrable and awarded through a lottery system, allow owners to rent their properties as much as they like.

All are subject to state and local taxes and inspections from the city.

In Seaside, vacation rentals are required to have a license and face inspections and other regulations. They are also required to pay state and local taxes.

In Gearhart, the group ultimately decided to begin looking at removing the exemption from the existing tax ordinance to get a better idea of the scope of single family rental homes in Gearhart and then consider a more comprehensive ordinance encompassing all vacation rental properties.

The City Council and planning commission plan to provide opportunities for the community to voice its opinion at forums or additional work sessions in the coming months.