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Record of Proceedings

Astoria City Council Work Session - August 25, 2026: Agenda Setting and Short-Term Rental Program Review

City Council & Commissions — Tuesday, August 25, 2026
BodyAstoria, Oregon
SessionCity Council & Commissions
DateTuesday, August 25, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:00:45

Transcript — Verbatim
0:10

I think there was one of the stopped uh structure.

0:22

I know people can earn you know every time we're on the feature of endbooks.

0:40

All right, we all ready.

0:43

Good evening and welcome to the Monday, August 24th, 2026 work session of the Astoria City Council.

0:50

For the record, the time is 6.01 PM.

0:53

Mr.

0:53

Spence, if we could have a roll call, please.

0:55

Counselor Davis.

0:56

I'm here.

0:56

Counselor Conklin.

0:57

Here.

0:57

Council Mozzarella?

0:58

Here.

0:59

Counselor Adams.

1:00

Mayor Fitzpatrick.

1:01

Here.

1:03

So at our work session tonight, we have uh, as we always do, uh, we have two items and we have agenda setting first.

1:12

So Mr.

1:13

Spence, if we could go into agenda setting, please.

1:16

You bet.

1:16

And one thing it's it's somewhat related, but I do want to kind of talk to council since we have this opportunity to be together about the conversations with council just for tomorrow night to make sure everyone's prepared for that.

1:26

As you know, that we change the location from the library to Fort George level showroom that will start at six o'clock and then we'll end at 7 30, roughly.

1:35

It can really be break in or broken down into thirds.

1:37

So the first is an informal meeting greet.

1:39

This an opportunity to engage one-on-one with council.

1:43

Um, so that would be the first part of that.

1:45

The second part will be to do a presentation.

1:48

Um, there's been a lot of discussion about housing amongst council.

1:50

This would be an opportunity to kind of highlight what has proceeded really in the last uh two to well, even four years.

1:57

Um that'll be roughly the second third, and then the final third will be a QA.

2:02

This has been uh a subject that's come up with council.

2:05

We talked about this the council retreat, have an opportunity to do two-way conversation with council.

2:10

So to be mindful of that, we do need to have a little bit of structure with that to ensure that everyone has at least the opportunity if they want to to engage with council.

2:19

So the thought would be one question per person per instance.

2:23

Um we can go two questions at the mic and then go to a written, not everyone's comfortable speaking in a mic in front of council.

2:31

So we can go like a two and two again.

2:33

If we go through everyone if that's possible, then if someone has another question, they could always come back.

2:39

But just trying to figure out what's the best way to ensure everyone has an opportunity to engage with council with a question.

2:46

As a suggestion, I mean, two-way dialogue is hard to essentially put a time limit on, but maybe roughly think about a three minute sort of dialogue.

2:54

If we don't, then potentially one person could spend five to ten minutes on one question and no one else has that opportunity.

3:01

So that would just be something at the conversation with council.

3:05

We'll just have to sort of go into and try to manage that to make sure everyone has an opportunity to engage.

3:09

So does that make sense in terms of a structure?

3:13

Okay, yes.

3:16

Are you gonna be sort of fielding like the uh posting the conversation or fielding doing the so that was we'll set you?

3:27

Yeah, we'll set we'll set council up once we do the informal mean greet.

3:31

We'll put you as almost like you're in front of a you know, the dais, if you will, and then we'll have a mic so people can address council.

3:37

We will have a box where people can do written questions, and so we will pull those out and then give those to the mayor to hand out whoever wants to read the question and then be able to respond to that.

3:48

Um one sort of bit of business originally, probably a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about this.

3:52

We did have a presentation for housing.

3:55

Um, that I'd ask if counselor Davis would be comfortable doing that, given the fact that he did something similar in May.

4:01

Um it's about 20 plus slides that kind of highlight some of the initiatives that have been worked on.

4:06

So I'm at least bring that up and maybe Councilor Davis, do you want to say?

4:09

Yeah, I well I prompted Scott sort of on this or manager Spence on this because I had turned in my signatures to file for mayor uh today.

4:20

And I wanted to make sure it felt appropriate for the rest of council for me to present uh and and be the face of council at this particular event.

4:30

I I'm happy to step aside and let someone else present if you think it's better optics.

4:37

I think since you're running, it's probably not appropriate for you to moderate that portion.

4:43

Okay.

4:45

I'd be happy to do it or have someone else do it, but I think that if someone's running, we should just be doing our job as counselors or mayor up here.

4:53

Um not coming across as though it was our particular accomplishment.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Engineering And Infrastructure████████████████████████████████32%
Affordable Housing███████████████████████████27%
Technology and Innovation████████████12%
Public Safety██████████10%
Transportation Safety██████6%
Procedural█████5%
Public Engagement████4%
Historic Preservation███3%
Community Engagement█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Astoria City Council Work Session - August 25, 2026: Agenda Setting and Short-Term Rental Program Review

The Astoria City Council held a work session on August 25, 2026, from 6:00 PM to 8:07 PM. The meeting included routine agenda setting and a detailed review of the Homestay Lodging (HSL) and Vacation Rental (VR) licensing programs. Council discussed the upcoming "Conversation with Council" event, assigned ad-hoc committees for municipal code review and a council handbook, and received a staff presentation on short-term rental regulations.

Discussion Items

  • Agenda Setting: City Manager Spence outlined the structure for the August 26 public housing event at Fort George level showroom (6:00-7:30 PM), including informal meet-and-greet, presentation, and Q&A. Councilor Davis recused himself from presenting due to his mayoral candidacy; Councilor Adams volunteered. Staff also proposed two initiatives for the remainder of 2026: a municipal code review (addressing business occupation tax, appeals process, etc.) and a council handbook (communication policy, roles, appointments). Council assigned Councilors Mozzarella and Conklin to the code review, and Councilors Davis and Adams to the handbook.
  • Homestay Lodging and Vacation Rental Program Review: Community Development Director John Roberts, Planner Tiffany Taylor, and Associate Planner Sam Peterson presented. Key statistics: 21 HSL licenses (with a few pending), 23 VR licenses (14 issued, 9 pending), and an estimated 31 unlicensed STRs. The city's cap of 50 VRs is not yet met. Astoria uses 1% of its housing stock for STRs—the most restrictive on the Oregon coast. The program has collected $450,000 in transient lodging tax year-to-date. Major challenges include: owner-occupancy verification for HSL (difficult to enforce), parking requirements (one off-street space per bedroom for HSL vs. one per VR unit), kitchen definition (previously included toaster ovens/air fryers, now administratively amended), sprinkler requirements (triggered by mixed-use or commercial building codes), and a 2019 cutoff date that restricts which properties can obtain VR licenses. Staff recommended consolidating HSL and VR into a unified short-term rental licensing program under city code, removing the 2019 date (since the cap already limits growth), clarifying building code standards, and providing flexibility for historic/non-conforming properties. Council expressed support for consolidation and code updates, but requested more specifics on flexibility for older properties. They also indicated no strong attachment to the 2019 cutoff as long as the cap remains.

Key Outcomes

  • Council directed staff to proceed with drafting code amendments, beginning with a work session with the Planning Commission in September or October 2026, with a target for council adoption by late November or December 2026.
  • Staff will prepare detailed options on parking, sprinkler requirements, kitchen definitions, and historic property flexibility.
  • Ad-hoc committees formed: Councilors Mozzarella and Conklin for municipal code review; Councilors Davis and Adams for council handbook.

Meeting Transcript

I think there was one of the stopped uh structure. I know people can earn you know every time we're on the feature of endbooks. All right, we all ready. Good evening and welcome to the Monday, August 24th, 2026 work session of the Astoria City Council. For the record, the time is 6.01 PM. Mr. Spence, if we could have a roll call, please. Counselor Davis. I'm here. Counselor Conklin. Here. Council Mozzarella? Here. Counselor Adams. Mayor Fitzpatrick. Here. So at our work session tonight, we have uh, as we always do, uh, we have two items and we have agenda setting first. So Mr. Spence, if we could go into agenda setting, please. You bet. And one thing it's it's somewhat related, but I do want to kind of talk to council since we have this opportunity to be together about the conversations with council just for tomorrow night to make sure everyone's prepared for that. As you know, that we change the location from the library to Fort George level showroom that will start at six o'clock and then we'll end at 7 30, roughly. It can really be break in or broken down into thirds. So the first is an informal meeting greet. This an opportunity to engage one-on-one with council. Um, so that would be the first part of that. The second part will be to do a presentation. Um, there's been a lot of discussion about housing amongst council. This would be an opportunity to kind of highlight what has proceeded really in the last uh two to well, even four years. Um that'll be roughly the second third, and then the final third will be a QA. This has been uh a subject that's come up with council. We talked about this the council retreat, have an opportunity to do two-way conversation with council. So to be mindful of that, we do need to have a little bit of structure with that to ensure that everyone has at least the opportunity if they want to to engage with council. So the thought would be one question per person per instance. Um we can go two questions at the mic and then go to a written, not everyone's comfortable speaking in a mic in front of council. So we can go like a two and two again. If we go through everyone if that's possible, then if someone has another question, they could always come back. But just trying to figure out what's the best way to ensure everyone has an opportunity to engage with council with a question. As a suggestion, I mean, two-way dialogue is hard to essentially put a time limit on, but maybe roughly think about a three minute sort of dialogue. If we don't, then potentially one person could spend five to ten minutes on one question and no one else has that opportunity. So that would just be something at the conversation with council. We'll just have to sort of go into and try to manage that to make sure everyone has an opportunity to engage. So does that make sense in terms of a structure? Okay, yes. Are you gonna be sort of fielding like the uh posting the conversation or fielding doing the so that was we'll set you? Yeah, we'll set we'll set council up once we do the informal mean greet. We'll put you as almost like you're in front of a you know, the dais, if you will, and then we'll have a mic so people can address council. We will have a box where people can do written questions, and so we will pull those out and then give those to the mayor to hand out whoever wants to read the question and then be able to respond to that. Um one sort of bit of business originally, probably a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about this. We did have a presentation for housing.

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