YACHATS – The Yachats city council is completing amendments to the city’s vacation rental license code and is holding a workshop at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Commons multipurpose room. The public is invited to attend and give feedback.

The council recently reviewed the code to clarify language around license transfers. Two public hearings on clarifications drew concerns from community members and vacation rental property managers who want to see the city’s licenses automatically transferred when the property changes hands.

Under the current and proposed rules, licenses do not automatically transfer to new owners or heirs upon a death or sale. However, for owners looking to plan for the future, such as passing a property on to a heir, the city is now suggesting a path to do that by:

Adding the heir to the property deed.
Applying for a new license that includes both names which would require waiting for an available opening on the city’s list, which is currently short.
Forfeiting the original single-name license once the dual-name license is secured.

A memo on the workshop agenda by city manager Bobbi Price said this “future planning” approach allows the license to remain with the surviving person on the license, even though the code does not allow for a standard automatic transfer.

Council will use the session to work toward a final document to be presented at the next public hearing at a future regularly scheduled council meeting. For more information, including watching the meeting via Zoom go to the city’s website.