Letter: Vacation rental vs. low to middle-class housing

I love Waldport. It is a small community, but we have, as other cities, a problem with available low to middle-income housing. We have so many vacation rental houses in our town, when will it stop?

The city has decided to build vacation rentals by Livesay Development on Northwest John Street and Northwest Spring instead putting up low and middle-income housing. The city claims the land is worth too much money to put houses in. It is all about the money. Why can't small homes be put in that an average person can afford? Is the city really looking out for our community?

I guess the city doesn't care about the health of its citizens, either. With no housing available, we can't get doctors or nurses to move here because of the lack of affordable housing. I guess the city doesn't care about the health and welfare of its citizens.

Will my taxes go down when all these new vacation rentals are built? I thought I was in the middle-income bracket, have my house paid for, but I am in the low-income with property taxes so high and going up every year. The rich are pushing the average citizen out of these coastal towns. Why should the person making less money be deprived of living close to the ocean?

The assistant mayor told me one time, "I want to make Waldport a vacation destination." Well, as a citizen of this town, I don't. We have Yachats and Newport for that. How many of you other citizens feel the same? We are losing our community with vacation rentals woven into neighborhoods.

The county put a limit on how many vacation rentals there can be in an area, but unfortunately this does not apply to Waldport. If you are unfortunate enough to live next to a vacation rental, you never know who your neighbors will be from week to week. Party animals or a nice quiet family, it is a crapshoot.

I, for one, do not like the direction this city going. There is another large piece of property in the same area, and it hasn't been decided on what it will be. Well, we know it is not going to be affordable housing.

C. Wisniewski

Waldport