As of summer 2019, there are currently over 1,000 permitted vacation rentals in San Juan County, WA. Currently there is no limit on the number of vacation rentals in the county, and permits convey with the sale of a property. Unlike official businesses like bed and breakfasts, hotels and resorts, licensing constraints are minimal for vacation rentals, also known as Short Term Rentals (STR). An STR refers to accommodations that are less than 30 days.
The majority of owners of vacation rental properties (51%) do not live in San Juan County. Friends, our partners, and concerned community members wonder if these are residential or commercial properties. We’d like to know more about how vacation rentals impact affordable housing, the composition of our community, the costs of infrastructure as well as the impact on our environmental quality and our quality of life. We’re exploring the measures that other communities have enacted to accommodate/include vacation rentals.
Please click here to join us in asking the San Juan County Council to impose an immediate moratorium on the issuance of new Vacation Rental Permits while our county determinines how to move forward with the issue. The moratorium should remain in place until the county implements regulations that meet the public need. It will not effect currently permitted vacation rentals.
Click here to learn more from the Orcas Island Vacation Rental Group.
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Location of Vacation Rental Permits in San Juan County as of November 2018 pictured above. This map shows the location of parcels as assigned on vacation rental permits since 1990. Mapped locations are not the actual locations of rental houses. This is not an exhaustive list of permits and there may be vacation rental permits not shown on the map. This map does not include permits for hotels, motels, resorts, campgrounds, bed and breakfasts or illegal accommodations.
