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BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Deschutes County commissioners will review a consultant’s report Monday that studied three potential recreational campground/RV park sites, and in a separate matter will consider whether to enact a business license for short-term rentals in the unincorporated county.
The county contracted for about $100,000 with ECONorthwest to do a preliminary analysis of three possible of private or public RV parks and recreational campgrounds on three sites: Fort Thompson Lane, north of Bend, along Drafter Road in La Pine and at Crooked River Ranch.
The Drafter Road site, within the city of La Pine, “has some of the most attractive conditions to host an RV park development,” the consultants’ report said, including direct highway access, conducive zoning and existing infrastructure, but notes “potential challenges,” including needing exceptions to state land-use goals.
“The projected development cost here (for a 63-site campground/RV park) is around $3.7 million, but with an expected return between 9.9 and 11 percent, the investment seems justifiable,” the report says.
The Fort Thompson Lane site has a lot of space, but similar land-use challenges and a canal that bisects the property. The development cost for a 300-site RV park of $21.6 million could be a taller bar to clear. And the consultants say the Crooked River Ranch site “presents a set of unique challenges,” including rugged terrain and lack of utility infrastructure and zoning regulations against camping.
ECONorthwest notes “several viable options” for funding a campground/RV park, such as room tax revenues or grants. “As for operational strategies, the county could take the lead in management, or explore public-private partnerships, which have proven successful in other regions.”
As for the second agenda item, commissioners this fall directed Community Development Department Staff to look into options for a business license program for short-term rentals in the unincorporated county.
The county already collects transient room taxes on short-term rentals outside of the cities, using a software program that identifies STRs by cross-checking most online booking platform listings. The system also allows for the reporting, collection and payment of room taxes, but does not certify the lawful establishment of an STR.
As of last month, the county has about 3,200 short-term rental accounts, 2,400 of which are within destination resorts. The county Finance Department is working on getting nearly 800 accounts into compliance by completing registration forms for a “certificate of authority.”
“Requiring a business license for an STR is generally an option to provide guidelines and compliance standards without requiring a permit and/or making a land use determination,” the board’s briefing document states.
Possible components could include a review of wastewater systems, a “fire life safety” standards checklist, 24/7 property manager availability and whether the STR complies with regulations that allow them as outright permitted uses in single- or multi-family residential zones.
As for what the fee could be, staff said it could come up with a structure to recover the county’s costs of reviewing and issuing the initial and renewal licenses.
Details on the items can be found at the links in Monday morning’s county commission agenda.
The board also will consider a letter of support to submit to the city of Ben Landmarks Commission for its proposal to save the facade of the A.J. Tucker Building, which will be removed during the upcoming courthouse expansion project. No one submitted a bid to remove the building when the county sought such requests earlier this year.
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