PULLMAN, WA – Pullman City Council members are having some second thoughts about the controversial restrictions that they narrowly approved on short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo.
Council revisited the new rules during their meeting Tuesday night. A four to two vote by council in May enacted the restrictions that the city’s planning commission spent years crafting. The new rules drew the spotlight again recently when city staff took one general complaint about short-term rentals being out of compliance and sent threatening letters to 57 illegal operators. The letters threatened those out of compliance operators with 250 dollar daily fines starting January 1st.
Councilwoman Ann Parks voiced concern that one vague complaint triggered the city-wide short-term rental crackdown. You can listen to her comments below.
The second senior most member of Pullman City Council, Pat Wright, voted against the short-term rental restrictions in May. Councilwoman Wright asked for a moratorium on enforcement of the rules until the new city councilmembers are sworn in next year. Three new city councilmembers will be elected this fall. You can listen to Councilwoman Wright’s thoughts below.
The discussion became heated when Pullman City Council’s senior most member, Nathan Weller, tried to bring up concerns that he heard directly from some planning commission members. The commission recommended unanimously that Pullman City Council approve the new restrictions. Weller tried to relay what he was told by some commission members that they felt pressured by other commissioners to approve the new restrictions on short-term rentals. His attempts to pass along those concerns were interrupted several times by Mayor Francis Benjamin and city attorney Thad O’Sullivan. You can hear one of those interruptions from Mayor Benjamin below.
The interruptions continued while Councilman Weller tried to point out that there is not a consensus regarding the restrictions on short-term rentals. Below you can listen to an exchange started by city attorney O’Sullivan warning the city’s longest serving elected official.
Councilman Weller voted against the new restrictions on short-term rentals back in May. The new rules were part of a much larger zoning code update for the city. A previous attempt by some councilmembers to vote on the short-term rental rules separately failed to move forward.
City council agreed to send the short-term rental restrictions back to the planning commission. Council will consider specific direction for the commission to revisit during an upcoming meeting.
