Gig Harbor takes action on Airbnb-style rental moratorium. Here’s what comes next

The Gig Harbor City Council unanimously confirmed a six-month moratorium on Airbnb-style rental applications Monday and sent the issue on to the city Planning Commission for further study.

The action will not affect currently permitted short-term rentals.

It followed a virtual public hearing Oct. 11 in which several landlords expressed dismay over the moratorium and some neighbors praised it as overdue.

“Short and sweet, I think the question is, ‘What does Gig Harbor wish to be?’” said Edward Nadler, who lives on Harborview Drive. “Are we a tourist destination to generate revenue or is it a place for people to live?”

Hayley Nichols, a property owner who has a short-term rental application pending, said the moratorium was “heavy-handed.”

“We were given the runaround for two months just to get our application accepted,” she said. “Now we have to wait six more months.” She questioned whether the situation was a true emergency.

Not an outright ban

The moratorium will provide an opportunity for the city to decide how — or whether — to update its housing code, said the city’s chief planner, Carl de Simas.

“This moratorium is not a ban on short-term rentals, but a pause on acceptance of new applications.” de Simas said.

There has been some fear in the community that “this is an outright ban on short-term rentals, and that’s actually not the case,” he said. “We’re just putting a pause on the acceptance of new applications at this time.”

The moratorium was approved unanimously as an emergency measure by the City Council on Sept. 27, and the hearing this week was required by law as a result.

The public will get a further say when the Planning Commission schedules hearings early next year, de Simas said. The issue will then come back to the City Council no later than March of 2022.

Vote to accept findings

The City Council voted 7-0 to accept the findings of fact justifying the moratorium and to refer the issue to the Planning Commission.

“I believe rentals are going to be in the future component of Gig Harbor,” said Councilmember Spencer Abersold. “It’s a beautiful town, a vacation destination, we have a lot of activities, and those activities are going to continue to grow ... but we need to have policies in place to protect the renters, the landlords and the city as well.”

Mayor Kit Kuhn said the moratorium was brought to the council as an emergency ordinance to prevent “a run on the bank,” in which property owners could take advantage of the ordinary two-week gap between first and second readings to rush in their applications.

The moratorium would apply to permits for “Lodging Level 1,” which city code classifies as a single-family residence which provides overnight lodging for guests, and may provide meals for overnight guests, not to exceed five guest rooms.

Exceptions to moratorium

De Santis said Monday there was some misunderstanding among the public about the scope of the moratorium. In particular, he noted, the moratorium does not apply to:

▪ Short-term rentals already permitted.

▪ Rentals or leases of 30 days or more.

▪ Rentals of rooms in a house also occupied by the owner.

De Santis said the city has identified 44 short-term rentals already operating in the city, but only one of them has the proper permits, although three more have applied. Under current city regulations, most short term rentals would require a Conditional Use Permit and a City Business license.

Technically, the other 41 are operating illegally, de Santis told The Gateway in an email on Tuesday. However, he added, the city’s code enforcement program operates on a complaint basis, with priority given to life and safety issues.

The city does collect taxes from short-term rentals, and has received about $14,000 in lodging tax revenue from them so far this year, he said.

‘Party house stigma’

Many of those who spoke during the public hearing or submitted written comments were landlords who said Airbnb-style rentals bring tourists and money into the city.

“The last thing we want to do is to be bringing in bachelor parties, bachelorette parties or anything like this,” said Kelly Arnold, who runs a Gig Harbor property management business. “The owners of the houses, as well as the managers, only want to make the houses better, to beautify the community and bring in respectful guests.”

James Karrer said he manages properties for Vacasa, a company similar to Airbnb. He argued short term rentals are getting a bad rap because of “the party stigma.” He said his clients sign a “good neighbor policy” requiring them to respect the neighborhood, obey parking rules and keep noise to a minimum.

“When I am speaking to people about short-term rentals in Gig Harbor, my philosophy is ‘value over volume,’” he said. “I don’t want to fill up your property 200 nights with under-qualified guests. I want to fill it up with somebody who wants to stay in a beautiful home and make memories with their families.”

Peter Katich, a retired city planner who lives in the Millville area of the waterfront, argued homes “legally and illegally converted” to short-term rentals are “slowly eroding the single-family nature of our neighborhood and potentially adding nuisances such as noise, traffic and parking problems” to the area.

Other business

In other business, the City Council:

▪ Heard a presentation on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, featuring members of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, including a tribal council member, Anna Bean, who is also a Gig Harbor resident. The council also heard from Guy Capoeman, the Quinault artist who recently completed a redwood sculpture called “Our Fisherman, Our Guardian,” which is to be installed at Austin Park to mark the site of the original indigenous community there.

▪ Confirmed and sent to the Planning Commission for further hearing an emergency ordinance that would bring the city’s zoning code into compliance with a new state law requiring cities to accommodate emergency shelters and transitional housing for homeless persons.

▪ Heard the first reading of an ordinance that would repeal the city’s plastic bag ban, made redundant by a new state law that covers the same topic.

▪ Welcomed a new police officer, Ennis (Jody) Roberson, a 20-year veteran of the Seattle Police Department.

▪ Accepted a donation of one-third acre of land adjacent to the Cushman Trail from North Creek LLC. The property, located at 4889 96th St. is excess to an existing development. “We get benches donated, we get water fountains, but land, this is great,” commented Mayor Kuhn.

This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 5:00 AM.