Short-term Rentals

Community Planning staff drafted the Short-term Rentals: Issues and Considerations issue paper as part of the 2019 Annual Work Program. Following a public comment period on the issue paper, the Washington County Board of Commissioners directed us to develop recommendations for requirements and to research the process to establish a licensing program.

In December 2020-January 2021, we asked the community to take a survey and comment on the proposed requirements through an online open house. The open house provided background on the draft requirements, and 326 people took the survey.

Update:

In April 2021, the Board asked us to develop a short-term rental ordinance and to research a licensing program for the urban unincorporated area (outside cities). We included this in the Work Program 2021-23, but start-up costs are significant, cannot be offset by short-term rental licensing fees and no funding is available. The County is also currently experiencing a $25.3 million shortfall in the General Fund.

As a result, we did not recommend including short-term rental regulations in the Planning Work Program for 2023-25. For more information, see Planning Work Program 2023-25 Staff Report. The Board agreed with staff, and approved the 2023-25 Planning Work Program that does not include development of short-term rental regulations.