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3. WORK SESSION: Report Back on City Policy Regarding Short -Term Rentals <br />Building and Permit Services Director Lydia Kaye introduced the topic. <br />Council Discussion: <br />• Councilor Syrett - thanked staff for the report; expressed her desire to disband the ad hoc <br />committee and stated she never intended for this committee to make recommendations to <br />Council; it was to be a clearinghouse to understand how potential regulations Council might <br />impose would affect owner/operators; stated STRs have value in the community, are not in <br />competition with hotel industry, and have negligible impact on the long-term rental market; <br />said registration/licensing makes sense and allows collection of data for a period of time. <br />• Councilor Yeh - said she believes it is an appropriate step to create a licensing program to <br />obtain reliable data; agreed on disbanding the ad hoc committee at this time; expressed concern <br />that staff may not have capacity to follow-up on complaints if a complaint system is <br />incorporated. <br />• Councilor Taylor - favored going forward with a public hearing for the ordinance as it was <br />presented months ago; stated there are zoning laws prohibiting businesses from operating in <br />neighborhoods; stated that action should not be delayed. <br />• Councilor Zelenka - agreed the ad hoc committee has served its purpose and should be <br />disbanded; stated he is comfortable with licensing to obtain data; asked if data collected will be <br />used in determining TRT compliance; asked how those who don't register will be handled; <br />stated an accountability mechanism needs to be instituted. <br />• Councilor Evans - agreed the ad hoc committee should be disbanded; asked when data <br />collection can begin, what it would cost to bring on an additional employee, and if a reasonable <br />fee can be set to cover the cost of that employee. <br />• Councilor Clark- stated it is time to disband the ad hoc committee; said he doesn't believe <br />Council ever asked for input; rather, Council asked for staff to measure among rental owners <br />the negative impacts of a proposed ordinance; asked what actual problem Council is trying to <br />solve; stated he does not believe this is a problem that requires this level of attention; asked <br />what specific problem would be addressed in a potential ordinance that is not already covered <br />with nuisance code ordinances; stated he is not in favor of spending any more time on this <br />topic. <br />• Councilor Pryor - stated he is in favor of putting in place a registration or licensing system to <br />collect information and advised to take it slowly; stated this is a nuisance enforcement question, <br />and if nuisance enforcement is made more robust, it will be able to include short-term rental <br />complaints; stated he is comfortable with disbanding the ad -hoc committee. <br />• Councilor Syrett - stated she supports staff implementing a registration process and gathering <br />more information, but needs to wait on any further regulation to see how the pandemic further <br />affects this sector of the economy; stated there are many small businesses that operate out of <br />homes in this community, all without negative impacts; stated she is unclear exactly what <br />problem Council is trying to solve, and it feels like Council is spending an inordinate amount of <br />time on this topic; stated she supports registration for the purpose of collecting more data <br />about the actual short-term rental landscape, but any further action should be deferred until <br />there is a larger picture of the impacts of this pandemic. <br />• Councilor Zelenka - stated the problem is location -specific and he has received a large number <br />of complaints in the past few years regarding short-term rentals in the University area; the <br />problems are noise, more than five people occupying a house, and livability concerns; stated <br />that regulation for data collection is insufficient and the data in the next year will not be useful; <br />stated there needs to be an accountability mechanism with a fee and staff associated with it; <br />stated the C ouncil is are punting on dealing with complaints and the existing system doesn't <br />work. <br />MINUTES - Eugene City Council May 20, 2020 Page 2 <br />Work Session <br />