Vacation rentals are officially on the books in Whatcom County, but county leaders have a long way to go before they’re done setting the rules that will govern them.
The county council took the small step on Tuesday, July 25, of creating a definition for vacation rentals, also called short-term rentals, and making them legal in all rural zones that allow single-family houses.
They also set the bar considerably higher for siting a short-term rental in the Lake Whatcom watershed. Those seeking to convert their home into tourist accommodations in the watershed will need to pay more than $4,000 for a permit and spend a few months jumping through bureaucratic hurdles, including a public hearing, to make sure the rental won’t harm water quality in the lake.
Existing short-term rentals around Lake Whatcom would be “grandfathered in,” planner Cliff Strong said, and would not need the permit.
County officials have been working sporadically to regulate vacation rentals since 2014, after hearing complaints about noise, excessive parking and other nuisances at the vacation properties. Many of the concerns came from four parts of the county: Lake Whatcom, Glacier, Lummi Island and Point Roberts.
After nearly nine years, council had nothing to show for its efforts until Tuesday night.
In the coming months, the real work begins for the county council. Council has asked planning staff to hire someone to come up with a system for finding and registering all the vacation rentals in the county. Council may charge vacation rentals a fee to register and will consider a number of requirements, including signs, safety features, adequate septic systems and rules of behavior for the guests.
Council has no timeline for finishing its vacation-rental rules and will hold a hearing to take public input before final approval.
Vacation-rental properties, where guests stay for less than 30 days, are often referred to as “Airbnbs,” after the online platform where many of these rentals can be found. The first such website in fact was Vrbo, launched in 1995, and many others have set up digital shop since.
