05/15/2014

See you tonight! Summer fun, short term rentals and more.

We hope to see you at tonight's Arbor Lodge neighborhood meeting. We're getting ready for summer and are looking for people to join us in being social in the good weather - at the park, summer block parties, national night out and more. These are great opportunities to meet neighbors and get to know your neighborhood board members and we hope you'll join us in planning for summer fun!Thursday, May 15th, 6:30, Kenton Firehouse, 8105 N. Brandon

Also, we've been asked to support a request to consider how the City regulates Short Term Rentals (think AirBnB, VRBO, etc.). If you have experience with these and want to weigh in, bring your personal expertise to tonight's meeting. The specific request is below.  _______

Dear Neighbors,

We need your support and time is short.

At the April 22, 2014 Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC) meeting, the Commission voted to approve the proposed draft of the Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Package 6 (RICAP 6) which includes the Accessory Short Term Rental amendments. The package is now moved forward to City Council for approval of the Recommended Draft.

On June 4th at 2:00 pm, City Council is scheduled to review all of the RICAP 6 code amendments, including the Accessory Short Term Rental (STR) amendments.

The STR amendments allow 'by right' short term vacation rentals in single family residential neighborhoods but many neighborhoods have not had the opportunity to review the issues which have recently been raised or comment on the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability’s staff proposal. We are not asking you to take a stand on the provisions of the STR {any of these issues} but simply to support the need for a more comprehensive public review of the STR proposal than has occurred to date.

Southeast Uplift (SEUL) and Central Northeast Neighbors (CNN) Coalitions, as well as the Neighborhood Association Boards of Sellwood Moreland (SMILE), Hosford Abernethy (HAND), and Rose City Park (RCPNA), have submitted official letters to the City of Portland requesting that Accessory Short Term Rentals be removed from the RICAP 6 process because of the need for a broader public discussion. These letters state that the Short Term Rental amendments are a Major Policy Issue and do not qualify to be considered in the RICAP process, which by PSC’s own definition covers Minor Policy Matters and Technical Corrections. The above referenced letters are attached.

Please reply to this email with a vote of support by a simple cut and paste of the message below, deadline Friday, May 30th:

I support SE Uplift and CNN Coalitions’ request for City Council to remove the Accessory Short Term Rentals amendments from RICAP 6 to allow time for a broader community discussion.

Please share this e-mail with your friends and neighbors.

Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully,Ellen Burr - SMILE Board & LU Committee Chair, SEUL LU&TCTamara DeRidder, AICP – Rose City Park Neighborhood Association (RCPNA), Board & Co-Chair LU&TCAnne Dufay, Executive Director, SEUL (representing 20 SE neighborhoods)Bonny McKnight, Coordinator Citywide Land Use CommitteeLinda Nettekoven – Hosford Abernethy Neighborhood Development (HAND) and SEUL LU&TC

Michael Roth - Chairman Rose City Park Neighborhood Association (RCPNA)Mary Ann Schwab - Southeast Uplift resident Alison Stoll, Executive Director, Central NE Neighbors - CNN (representing 7 NE neighborhoods)