AirBnB and other Short Term Rental Policy at City Open House

Flyer

Wednesday evening the City's holding an Open House on policy for short-term rentals like AirBnB and such. Zoning, friendly neighborhood relations, some basic standards seem to be the focus. Unsaid here, but perhaps also important, is collecting the transient occupancy tax. (A couple years back, CANDO noted that Salem wasn't collecting it, and that it would typically contribute to funding things like Sunday Streets.*)

With the advent of home-sharing websites, like Airbnb, FlipKey, and others, there is an increasing demand by residents in the community to make their homes available for rent by others on a short-term basis.

In order to address this increasing demand, the City of Salem is considering amendments to the Salem Revised Code (SRC) to make it easier for small-scale forms of short-term commercial lodging to operate in residential zones.

Currently, the only form of short-term commercial lodging allowed in the City's residential zones are bed and breakfasts. In the Residential Agriculture (RA), Single Family Residential (RS), and Duplex Residential (RD) zones, bed & breakfasts must receive Conditional Use Permit approval, which requires a public hearing, regardless of the number of guest rooms being rented.

In order to make it easier for residents to rent their homes, or guestrooms within their homes, on a short-term basis, proposed amendments being considered would allow short-term rentals of an appropriate scale to the surrounding neighborhood to operate without a Conditional Use Permit. In order to ensure such activities won't impact the livability of surrounding neighborhoods, limits on the maximum numbers of guest rooms and numbers of guests, minimum parking requirements, standards to ensure safety, and other requirements will be considered.

Here's the flyer.

The Open House is tomorrow, Wednesday the 1st, 6:00 p.m. at the Salem Public Library, Loucks Auditorium.

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* Which remains on hiatus as a City-sponsored event. A different group is trying to revive a similar event. The City of Eugene has three staff attached to their Sunday Streets project (not 3 FTE, however), so it remains unclear whether something can thrive here in Salem without any City staff involvement.

Ask for Walking and Biking Projects at Open House for Strategic Plan

Liz Meyer

Right now it probably seems like national politics and national chaos swamp everything. These are dark times. There's hardly any room for anything else in our brains.

If you haven't done so already, consider writing, calling, or visiting our Senators and Representative in Congress.

• Sen. Wyden - 707 13th St., SE Suite 285, Salem, OR, 97301, (503) 589-4555
• Sen. Merkley - 161 High Street SE, Suite 250, Salem, OR 97301, (503) 362-8102
• Rep. Schrader - 530 Center Street NE, Ste 415, Salem, OR 97301, (503) 588-9100

But local politics is where we can actually have the most direct impact.

There are many ways to approach the Open House for the "Strategic Plan" on Tuesday.

It feels right now like there's a flyswatter just off camera

Housing costs and homelessness are sure to lead the way for many.

Community Priorities Telephone Survey (and throughout)

A rational and thrifty transportation policy is another.

Legislative Update, Presession Filings

Following the Legislature this year is going to be tough. It's going to get a little lost between national things and city things. Also, looking back on the past few years of the sessions, following them with weekly updates has yielded too much tedious repetition, and just does not seem all that worthwhile now.

At the same time, there is the possibility of a major transportation package and so some attention will be warranted (not to mention other big topics).

Here's a preliminary list of bills that might be interesting. There don't seem to be any bicycle licensing bills this year in the pre-session filings! Nor were there any other bills specifically about bicycling. No carbon tax or cap-and-trade either. In years past I seem to recall more things of interest here.

• SB 38 - Looks like a generic funding bill for ODOT. The current project list in it is old and will almost certainly be replaced. Maybe this will be the "transportation package" eventually.
• SB 426 - Repeals low-carbon fuel standard 
• SB 557 and HB 2135 - New statewide greenhouse gas emissions goals
• SB 5530 - an ODOT budget
• HB 2102 - Looks like it relaxes some of the penalties for DUI convictions
• HB 2288 - Funding for ConnectOregon
• HB 2355 - On collecting data on traffic stops and racial profiling.
• HB 2440 - An attempt to remove HOV lanes on I-5
• HB 2532 - A proposal for a quantitative scoring system for the STIP, including a requirement for "least-cost planning" (this one looks a little interesting)
• HB 2682 - A proposal to make it easier for cities to set speed zones and remove the need for ODOT approval (Portland is driving this and BikePortland has an extensive discussion)

Maybe you will know of others. As the session develops, additional topics and bills may be added.

Postscript

Here's a Legislative advocacy event that is relevant!

About that Memorandum of Understanding with DLCD on the SRC

So yesterday the City announced that the Department of Land Conservation and Development was dropping their appeal to the Land Use Board of Appeals on the Salem River Crossing and Urban Growth Boundary.

The beginning of the Memo of Understanding

It was a negotiated settlement, and the terms of the agreement are set out in a Memorandum of Understanding, which will lead in two or three months to a more formal Intergovernmental Agreement.

So what does it mean?

Superficially it is easy to read it as a bit of a sell-out.

From the City's press release:

the City and DLCD came together to create greater understanding of the issues and identify areas of agreement. These meetings were facilitated by the Governor’s Office Mid-Valley Regional Solutions program, and included the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The City and DLCD agreed on a path forward and to work cooperatively on the issues of transportation choices raised in the appeal.

In the absence of a more detailed explanation, it is not difficult to imagine that the Governor and ODOT together pressured the DLCD to drop the appeal, and this "settlement" was the outcome.

It puts aside the main question: Was the UGB expansion warranted and necessary? and instead shifts to smaller questions about transportation options and demand management, in a context that assumes the bridge is necessary and that the UGB expansion was reasonable.

This reads like an important dodge rather than meeting the difficulties of the case head-on.

DLCD Withdraws from LUBA Appeal on Salem River Crossing - Updated

Here's a cryptic "whiskey tango foxtrot" for you.

Today the City issued a vaporous press release that is difficult to interpret more than in a very superficial way:

City of Salem and Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development Joint Statement

The City of Salem and the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) are pleased to announce that we have reached an understanding on the expansion to Salem’s Urban Growth Boundary and amendment to the Transportation System Plan. This understanding will support our mutual goals to provide transportation choices for people traveling to, through, and within Salem. A well-designed transportation network is vital for a healthy and vibrant community and provides street connectivity and transportation options to serve the needs of our City and region. This agreement will allow us to cooperatively pursue these goals.

The agreement is a result of dialog between the City and DLCD following the City’s decision in December approving an expansion of Salem’s Urban Growth Boundary and amendment to the Transportation System Plan, which allows the City to continue the planning process for a new bridge across the Willamette River. Once constructed, the crossing will provide another choice for people coming from or bound for west Salem, Polk County, and the coast.

In late December, DLCD filed a notice of intent to appeal the City’s decision. As a result, the City and DLCD came together to create greater understanding of the issues and identify areas of agreement. These meetings were facilitated by the Governor’s Office Mid-Valley Regional Solutions program, and included the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The City and DLCD agreed on a path forward and to work cooperatively on the issues of transportation choices raised in the appeal. As a result of this understanding, DLCD is withdrawing their appeal of the City’s decision.

We are committed to working together to further refine Salem’s progress in advancing transportation options in Salem and the region.

Does this mean that the Governor and ODOT pressured the DLCD to cave? That's an easy first reading, but perhaps it's wrong. The lack of detail here is concerning. Things like "areas of agreement" should be spelled out.

The rhetoric of "transportation options" is interesting, though. On the one hand the first "choice" mentioned is about trips to the coast. That's just another word for driving. The statement also talks about the bridge "once constructed," as if the City now had certainty.

But "transportation choice" has also meant walking, biking, and busing.

We should also remember the fight the City conducted with DLCD from 2002 to 2009 on "periodic review." The City did not cooperate and stonewalled. Finally DLCD caved.

So there are several reasons to be suspicious.

New West Salem Brewery Opening this Fall

Xicha Brewing Company Principals

The West Salem urban renewal advisory board meets next week, and the meeting agenda itself doesn't look all that interesting necessarily.

But a map and agenda item whose significance wasn't obvious - something about possible investment and the resulting tax base - turned into a very pleasant goose chase, and led to news about a forthcoming brewery in West Salem.

Xicha Brewing Company looks to open a Latin American influenced brewery and pub in West Salem!

The map in the WSRAB packet led to discovering Xicha
(Xincha logo added, of course!)

It will be located in the flats at 576 Patterson St NW - totally bikeable and walkable for the neighborhood and the close-in hill areas.

Maybe too there are other beer styles and traditions that haven't been worked already by northwest brewers, and that Xicha will be something really new and different. (Do you know cerveza styles in Mexico and Latin America? Wasn't somebody brewing some tepache or pulque or something in Portland? It seems like there are some real possibilities here!)

Here's the website and facebook.

Check it out. They look to open this summer fall, November 3rd. Sounds like a great addition to West Salem.

Streetscape Concept Starting Point, but not Finished

Over at SCV they're talking up the "streetscape" project from a few years ago. (Part 1, part 2, part 3.)

Unfortunately it has what look like some holes, and while elements from it might be incorporated into a winning proposal for reconfiguring our downtown streets, if it is considered at all a "final" concept, it still could benefit from some refinement.

There's no Family-Friendly Biking Yet

Billed as something that would "make downtown both more attractive, and also more pedestrian/cyclist friendly," it might offer some improvement for people who already feel confident biking in downtown traffic, but it doesn't quite represent improvements for family-friendly cycling. It is a great help that auto traffic lanes would be in some cases reduced, of course, but there are no protected bike lanes for families or people who bike irregularly.

Court Street Concept, June 2013

In fairness, the Downtown Mobility Study's recommendations also retained the angle parking and had no bike lane for Court Street. It doesn't attain "family-friendly" either. But if we aren't going to have bike lanes and we are going to keep all the angled parking, I'd rather have two-way travel lanes than to retain the one-way directionality.