Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Okanogan County adopts new nightly rental code

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OKANOGAN – The Okanogan County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved a change to the county’s nightly rental code at its regular Jan. 6 meeting, according to notes taken by Okanogan County Watch a group of citizen volunteers who attend the BOCC meetings.

“I am here to discuss a procedural amendment to the nightly rental code,” said Planning Director Stephanie “Pete” Palmer. “We are removing the requirement for the overnight transient permits (OTA) issued by the health department, as they are no longer requiring those permits.”

Specifically, the change involves the removal of the public health permit clause under Section 5.06.040 Nightly Rentals of Chapter 5.06 Record keeping:

The owner or operator shall possess, and keep valid at all times, an overnight transient accommodation permit (OTA permit) from Okanogan County Public Health to operate the facility. At no time shall the nightly rental operate without a valid OTA permit from Okanogan County Public Health.

“There will no longer be any health department inspections on nightly rentals,” said Commissioner Andy Hover

Hover explained that the health district used to be a department within the County, and it would issue the OTA permit for OTAs. 

“When the public health district was created, it became its own entity, no longer under the umbrella of the county government,” said Hover. “When you look at the RCWs that apply to public health districts, there is nothing that mentions nightly rentals.”

The old code stipulated that before the county issued a permit, the health department had to issue a permit. 

“Since the health department no longer issues these permits, we wanted to change the code to reflect the current process,” Hover said. 

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media

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