Community Development

Short Term Rentals

Is there an STR near me?

The Chelan County GIS Map identifies short-term rentals. Follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Map.
  2. Type in an address or parcel number and hit enter.
  3. If the property has an STR permit, it will be a solid color and the pop-up information block will show the parcel information.
  4. Hit the blue arrow in the top tool bar of the pop-up box to get information about the rental, including the STR permit number, local contact name, phone number, what tier it is and the maximum allowable overnight occupants.

Short-term Vacation Rentals (STR) Code Development

CURRENT LINKS OF INTEREST HERE:

For the short-term rental FAQ page use this LINK.

 

For the short-term rental task force report and attachment documents, use this link.
For the most current (and final) public comments received to close on July 2, 2021, use this link.

For the FINAL adopted Short-term rental code on July 27, 2021, as corrected in scrivener's error hearing on September 7, 2021 and fee table corrected September 14, 2021, and scrivener's error hearing on September 21, 2021, use this link.  

For the Board of Commissioners July 27, 2021 Resolution 2021-95 adopting the STR code, use this link.

For the Board of Commissioners September 7, 2021 Resolution 2021-114 scrivener's error correction to the STR code, use this link.

For the Board of Commissioners September 21, 2021 Resolution 2021-120 scrivener's error correction to the STR code, use this link.

For the extended moratorium ending on September 27, 2021 (the date the code begins) under Resolution 2021-101, use this link.

SUMMARY OF PROCESSES AND MORATORIA from August 25, 2020 RESOLUTION 2020-86 date, forward:

Effective August 25, 2020, the Board of County Commissioners enacted a moratorium to take effect immediately and in the interest of the good government and the public health, safety, and welfare. Resolution 2020-86: Summary: A resolution enacting a moratorium on the designation, permitting, construction, development, expansion, remodeling, creation, locating, and siting of short-term rental uses, structures, residences, businesses, lots, zones, buildings. 
Click here to read Resolution 2020-86 in its entirety.

On October 6, 2020, the Board of County Commissioners held a public hearing to decide whether to continue, revise, or discontinue the moratorium.  It was decided to amend and maintain the current moratorium into early 2021 by passing a new Resolution 2020-104 until superseded by adopting a new county code regulating short-term rental use.  The Board has scheduled a hearing on the moratorium to occur on February 23, 2021, at 10:15 AM, during their regularly scheduled meeting.

Click here to read Resolution 2020-104 in its entirety

On October 15, 2020 the Planning Commission held a public meeting to continue their deliberations on a draft code for short-term vacation rentals.  They voted to PASS a code recommendation and forward it to the Board of  County Commissioners (BOCC) for further consideration and action. 

Chelan County Board of Commission workshops on the draft code were held on October 28, November 3, 10,16, and 24, and December 1, and 8, 2020, and a public hearing was held taking oral testimony on December 22, 2020, for consideration of the proposal.  Edits to the draft code with options were requested for further consideration by the commissioners and and were posted as soon as available.  

On December 28, 2020 a workshop on the draft code was held and the Board of Commissioners decided to implement the Planning Commission's recommendation for a Short Term Rental Task Force, but do so before adoption of the code rather than after.  Staff were directed to prepare a resolution to that effect.  On December 29, 2020, the Board of Commissioners "continued" the short-term rental code adoption process and passed a resolution creating the short-term rental task force.  That resolution is best explained by reading the actual resolution in the link below.  After the 90-day task force has completed its work and made a recommendation, the Board will resume their deliberation and may take action based upon the recommendations of the task force.  A hearing was been set to consider extension of the above moritorium to allow this process to continue.  Due to a January 12 snowstorm affecting participation, that hearing was rescheduled for January 19, 2021 at 10:30 AM via Zoom.  After the hearing, the board continued their deliberations on the moratorium to February 2, 2021. 

Their decision on the creation of the Short-Term Rental Task Force occurred on January 20, 2021, with the initial membership list decided, and their instructions finalized on January 25, 2021.   On January 26, 2021 they revisited the membership issue and added a third current or former planning commissioner.  The nine members of the Task Force will work toward finding consensus on a refined draft code for the Board of Commissioners to consider after their charter expires on April 23, 2021.  A final report was submitted to the BOCC on May 7, 2021.  The Board accepted the report on May 11, 2021 and directed the staff to prepare a draft STR code with the report recommendations incorporated and have a workshop on the draft on June 11, 2021.

On February 2, 2021, the Board of County Commissioners held a continued public hearing to decide whether to continue, revise, or discontinue the moratorium.  It was decided to amend and maintain the current moratorium to August 25, 2021 by passing a new Resolution 2021-20 until superceded by adopting a new county code regulating short term rental use.  The Board has scheduled a hearing on the moratorium to occur on August 24, 2021 at 10:15 AM, during their regularly scheduled meeting (should the short-term rental code not be in place before then, replacing the moratorium).

Click here to read Resolution 2021-20 in its entirety

  • A form was developed to allow for certain permitting work to proceed, but only on short-term rentals EXISTING as of August 25, 2020, per amendments to the moratorium.  It is posted to the webpage permit applications page.

 

TASK FORCE WORK AND RECOMMENDATION COMPLETED:

  • The Task Force has completed its work.  The Board decided to accept the report on May 11, 2021, and directed the department to prepare a draft code with the report recomendations included, and held an initial workshop on the draft on June 1, 2021, at 10:15 AM. 

  • An additional code drafting workshop(s) were held on June 7, 2021 and June 14, 2021 at 4:30 PM, on June 15, 2021 at 10:20 AM, and on June 22, 2021 at 10:35 AM. 

 

A PUBLIC HEARING WAS HELD FOR ORAL COMMENTS ON THE NEAR-FINAL VERSION OF THE DRAFT CODE and A FINAL CODE WAS PASSED JULY 27, 2021.  IT TAKES EFFECT SEPT. 27, 2021:

  • A public hearing for providing testimony was held on June 29, 2021 at 10:20 AM.   The board began deliberations on July 13, 2021 and met again on July 27, 2021 at 10:15 AM, and made a decision.  A final version of the code was passed and a resolution was adopted.  The code does not take effect until September 27, 2021 and the department is developing an improved webpage and materials for the public over the next 30 days that will explain the process and requirements of the new code.  A future hearing will be held in August to consider extending the current moratorium beyond it's expiration, to end on the date the code takes effect.

On August 17, 2021 at 10:15 AM, the Board held a public hearing in consideration of extending the short-term rental moratorium from its August 24, 2021 expiration, to now be ending at the implementation date of the new code on September 27, 2021.  The resolution passed.  That Resolution is 2021-101.  On September 7, 2021, the board held a hearing on scrivener's errors in the code, passing Resolution 2021-114 making the minor edits to the code.  On September 14, 2021 the Board corrected errors in the fee table.  No fees were increased.  On September 21, 2021 the Board corrected and additional scrivener's error by passing Resolution 2021-120.  The current posting reflects that one change in additon to those from 2021-114 and the fee code change.

********************************

WRITTEN COMMENTING FOR THE SHORT-TERM RENTAL DRAFT CODE IS NOW CLOSED.

E-MAIL ADDRESS: CD.STRComment@co.chelan.wa.us. THIS MAILBOX IS NOW INACTIVE--The formal written commenting closed at 5 PM on Friday, July 2, 2021.

Formal written commenting by mail is also CLOSED:

Chelan County Community Development
ATTN: STR Comment
316 Washington Street, Suite 301
Wenatchee, WA 98801

********************************

STR Documents:

 

Board of County Commissioners-- STR Recordings and minutes:

Chelan County Board of Commissioners Meeting minutes page HERE

Planning Commission Agendas, Minutes, and Recordings can be found at: https://www.co.chelan.wa.us/community-development/pages/planning-commission

 

Public Comment Postings (2020)

Up to May 13, 2020
Up to May 26, 2020
Up to June 1, 2020
Up to June 9, 2020
Up to June 15, 2020 *(All Comment with attachments)
Up to June 15, 2020 *(All comment received)
Up to June 19, 2020 (Part 1)
Up to June 19, 2020 (Part 2)
Up to June 19, 2020 (Part 3)

Posted: 06/02/2020 10:21 AM
Last Updated: 04/07/2022 09:46 AM

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