A code change restricting vacation rentals in downtown storefronts will go before the Astoria Planning Commission.

The City Council began exploring a policy shift after public backlash to a proposal by Cloud 254 LLC that would have replaced the popular downtown barbershop, Eleventh Street Barber, with a vacation rental.

The Planning Commission in August denied the application and shared city staff’s opinion that a vacation rental is not appropriate for the location and does not create activity in the same way as the barbershop.

City staff also said that when the unit next to the barbershop was converted from an empty storefront to a vacation rental through a conditional use permit in 2020, it continued the appearance of a vacant storefront.

During an early November City Council work session, there was consensus among the council to preserve storefronts for commerce, but continue to allow vacation rentals above, below and behind storefronts. Long-term housing already has the same restrictions.

The potential change is expected to go before the Planning Commission for a public hearing.

“I think, for me, there are larger discussions to be had about the role of short-term rentals broadly in the community, what we’re doing with housing, etc.,” said City Councilor Andy Davis, who asked the council to consider the change. “But narrowly, this is handling what I was looking for, which is a way for us to say as a council, we don’t want that kind of use in the downtown.”

Responsive

Davis added that part of the City Council’s role is to be responsive to current pressures, one being that there is a profit incentive to convert spaces into vacation rentals.

“In a broad sense, I think that inflates the property market,” he said. “And then people look at short-term rentals as the only solution when the reality is maybe the price is too high for these parcels of property. And they should come down if short-term rental wasn’t part of the solution. So I’d like to at least for this subset of spaces, just say short-term rental is off the table.”

Over the years, the City Council has added restrictions to vacation rentals and hotels in response to public feedback and in an effort to preserve Astoria’s limited housing stock.

Vacation rentals are allowed conditionally in the commercial downtown except for structures used as residential housing after January 2019. Structures that were originally constructed as residential housing also cannot be used for vacation rentals.

While there are varying definitions in city code to differentiate the types of tourist lodging, city staff said there are 128 rooms downtown.

Of those rooms, five are hotels with 105 rooms; two are bed-and-breakfasts with seven rooms; one is homestay lodging with two rooms; and eight are vacation rentals with 14 rooms.

Many of the vacation rentals, which are classified the same as hotels under city code, are above or behind commercial spaces downtown.

City Councilor Tom Brownson said he felt comfortable with moving forward with the proposed code change. He also acknowledged public comment the City Council has received calling on the council to restrict vacation rentals anywhere that could be used for housing, including above and behind storefronts.

However, he said that is a longer discussion that should include building owners that have vacation rentals.

“I just want to hear what is realistic from the standpoint of the property owners,” Brownson said. “What are they really thinking about what they can realistically do?”

Mayor Sean Fitzpatrick echoed Brownson’s comments and said many of the units may not meet code requirements for housing.

He also said he does not believe storefronts should be used for vacation rentals or housing, citing a commercial space he saw during a recent trip to Portland along the waterfront.

“Most of the tall buildings there have commercial on the bottom floor,” he said. “And there was one that had apartments on the bottom floor. And every single one of those apartments had all their blinds closed.”

Proportion

City Councilor Elisabeth Adams said that if a space is suitable for a vacation rental, it should be considered suitable for housing.

She said she wants to understand how many vacation rentals there are downtown in proportion to stock that can be used for permanent housing and where there are higher concentrations of vacation rentals.

“Obviously, downtown is going to be a very desirable place in which that happens,” said Adams, who represents the downtown ward. “But downtown is also a very desirable place for the workforce to be close to their jobs, to be close to the bus station, to be in apartments or small living spaces, because a lot of people are younger, maybe single, not living with other people. So when we think about that type of housing, we’re also thinking about the same thing that short-term rentals offer, which is the same amenities.”

Davis agreed that he would like to understand if the spaces occupying vacation rentals downtown are the vast majority of the living spaces downtown or only a fraction.

He noted that most people he hears from who want to see more restrictions on vacation rentals believe they take opportunities away from locals.

“And I think we need to be sensitive to that. I certainly am sensitive to it,” Davis said, noting that an absentee owner of a home next door to him replaced a single mother and her kids with tourists.

“And that hurts my neighborhood in significant ways, as well as the community, to like a couple times a week have an Airbnb person roll in, instead of having housing for a woman who was working in the community,” he said.