Short-term rental moratorium passed, but which way?

Coulee Dam’s city council unanimously passed a resolution June 28 intending it to put a hold on any enforcement against so called short-term rentals of private property, following a plea from the owner of one such property two weeks earlier.

Coulee Dam doesn’t have an ordinance specifically making such an enterprise illegal, but it’s also not specifically allowed in its zoning codes either, which distinguish between residential and commercial zones.

At least two houses in east Coulee Dam are advertised on Airbnb, a site that handles the transactions between property owners and rental clients, one for $210 a night, the other for $162.

The council unanimously passed “Resolution No. 2023-03, a resolution adopting a moratorium on enforcement of short term housing,” a title questioned by a reporter who thought it directly contradicted the substance of its text: “A moratorium on the use of property on a short term rental basis shall be in effect” for three months.

The council wanted that much time to study the issue and adopt “the terms and conditions that will apply for such housing.”

Mayor Bob Poch asked the City Clerk Stefani Bowden to get clarity on the language question with the city attorney.