Linn Valley to look a container homes, short-term rentals

Lance Williams, left, and Matthew Kosmatka were sworn in as Linn Valley building inspectors by City Clerk Mendi Cyr on Monday. The plan is for Kosmatka to train Williams for the job. (Robert Suppenbach / Linn Valley council)

By Roger Sims, rsims@linncountyjournal.com

LINN VALLEY – The Linn Valley City Council on Monday, July 14, unanimously voted to ask the city’s planning commission to review the need for codes covering short-term rentals and structures built from shipping containers. If the planners saw the need for codes for either or both, they could offer suggestions for drafting ordinances.

The council also voted to hire two new building inspectors. Matthew Kosmatka was hired as a part-time building inspector with a wage of $22 per hour. He will train Lance Williams, now a full-time building inspector earning $20 per hour.

The building inspector post has been vacant for about a month. Year-to-date, about 140 building permit applications have been processed.

The request to look at possible codes for short-term rentals and use of shipping containers came at the request of Mayor Lewis Donelson. He said his concern about allowing short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo was safety, snd motivation for looking at structures built from containers was recent innovations in designs that made homes created from containers more attractive.

He noted that the council had discussed the short-term rental issue and the city planners felt that subject fell within their scope of responsibilities.

Donelson said he wanted to look at the issue from the standpoint of whether the structure met minimum standards for a rental property.

“My concern is they are renting something that is safe to rent,” he said, adding that he wasn’t concerned about collecting fees. “If it doesn’t have running water, if you can’t flush a toilet it isn’t for occupancy.

“We don’t want people renting sheds,” he continued, “we want something that’s rentable.”

He asked if a fifth-wheel trailer should be available to be rented out on Airbnb. “We don’t want people renting sheds,” he added. “We want people renting something that’s rentable.”

He warned that issuing permits for temporary rentals would come at the cost of inspections.

The motion to send the issue to the planning commission had one dissenting vote, Michael Hemphill.

On the container home issue, the mayor said that, despite Linn Valley Lakes Property Owners Association (POA) fighting to keep container homes out of the lake development, improvements in the design of container homes made them seem like a viable housing option.

“From the conversations I’ve had,” Donelson said, “I don’t know there’s a lot of opposition our there.”

But he said he realized that the city had be be cautious in opening that door.

“How are we going to prevent having 500 containers on the ground?” He asked. He asked the council if they remembered when there was a steady stream of sheds coming through the gates of the community and what a problem that was.

The city already has an application for a container home that is being held up because there are no codes to regulate them. A standard shipping container is 8 feet wide, 8 feet tall and they come in lengths of 10, 20 or 40 feet long. 

According to city code, a residence must have a living area of at least 600 square feet. It would take a minimum of two 40-foot containers and to meet that minimum. Donelson pointed out that the city’s building codes department would need additional expertise in welding and structural strength metal components to determine if a structure would be safe.