Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor | Council’s action opens door to more short-term rentals

Gig Harbor Council missed the mark on passing Ordinance 1540. This ordinance allows up to two accessory dwelling units (ADUs) for each principal dwelling unit on any parcel that meets the city’s minimum lot size in that zone. The Council stated they passed this ordinance to comply with a state law that requires cities to allow ADUs in every zone where single-family homes are permitted. They wrote in the introduction to the ordinance that it increases the range of housing choices and the supply of accessible and affordable housing units in the community and that it ensures that the development of ADUs “doesn’t cause unanticipated impacts on the character or stability of neighborhoods.”

However, the Council did not ensure the purpose of this ordinance and the promises it made in its description of the ordinance as they did not make a stipulation in this ordinance that the ADUs could not be used for short term rentals (STRs). And we all know that many will use this ordinance as an opportunity to build STRs as the income that can be made from these STRs is too tempting. If ADUs are used as STRs, they also don’t count toward the new housing units the state requires Gig Harbor provide in the next 20 years.

Therefore, this ordinance does not give us the promise of the purpose of the ordinance as stated by the Council when they passed it. If the ADUs are used as STRs, they will not increase the range and supply of housing in the community and there will be impacts on the character or stability of the neighborhoods in which the STRs are built and they cannot be used to comply with the state law.

Rose Micheli

Gig Harbor