Arch Cape Hasn't Decided Who Will Write Its Rental Rules Yet

If you buy an existing short-term rental in Arch Cape this year, the permit that lets it operate does not come with the deed. Clatsop County folded Arch Cape's rental standards into their own section of county code, and under the 2022 revisions those permits are non-transferable. A change of ownership means the new owner starts from zero: a fresh application, a new septic inspection, a new building inspection, all completed before a single night can legally be booked. The same 2022 update cut the permit term from five years to two and kept the renewal fee at $550.

That's worth knowing before an offer goes in on a property that's currently generating income. But the harder question for anyone comparing Arch Cape to an incorporated neighbor like Cannon Beach is who will be writing those rules in a year or two. Clatsop County holds that authority right now. A group of Arch Cape residents has spent close to two years asking whether a brand new city should hold it instead, and the steering committee running that process has said it plans to decide this fall whether the question goes to a ballot at all.

A County With Its Own Arch Cape Chapter

Arch Cape has operated under a distinct rental rulebook within Clatsop County since the county first required permits for short-term rentals there in 2004. When the county revised its standards in 2022, it split them into two separate sections of code: one covering the rest of unincorporated Clatsop County, and a second, Section 5.24, written specifically for Arch Cape. That's not a footnote. It means the county has already treated Arch Cape as different enough from Manzanita, Gearhart, or Seaside to warrant its own regulatory chapter, years before anyone raised the idea of a city government.

The 2022 changes also added a "Good Neighbor" flyer requirement for every rental, addressing quiet hours, parking, and pet control, and created a tiered complaint process for violations. None of that answers who gets to write the next version of that chapter. That's the question the incorporation study was built to answer.

What the Incorporation Study Is Actually Measuring

The Arch Cape Falcon Cove Beach Community Club hired the Portland consulting firm ECOnorthwest to run a feasibility study, with a kickoff meeting in April 2025. Clatsop County agreed to cover most of the cost, up to $106,500, pulled from the discretionary portion of a 2.5% unincorporated transient lodging tax the county adopted in 2015. The community club chipped in a year's worth of membership dues, about $3,500, as its share.

The study modeled four subareas: Arcadia Beach, Arch Cape, Falcon Cove Beach, and the neighboring unincorporated land around them. It built out budgets for years one, three, and ten under different service levels, from a bare-bones city government to something closer to a fully staffed municipality. At a public forum on January 6, 2026, ECOnorthwest project director Becky Steckler told residents that whatever else changes in the study's assumptions, only one number would actually appear on a future ballot and bind a new city council: the permanent property tax rate.

That rate matters because Oregon law caps annual property tax growth at 3%. Residents reviewing the county's published feedback on the draft study raised a pointed question: if the cost of running a new city rises faster than that 3% ceiling, where does the shortfall come from? The study itself doesn't promise an answer beyond noting that a new city could turn to franchise fees, grants, or additional assessments if the base tax rate doesn't keep pace.

Early cost estimates give some shape to that gap:

Ambulance response and 911 dispatch would stay with the county regardless of how the vote goes, according to Steckler's comments at the January forum. Everything else, including whether Arch Cape keeps writing its own STR rules or hands that job to a brand new city council, depends on choices the steering committee hasn't finalized.

The Boundary Already Moved Once

Here's where the timeline gets harder to pin down. In the fall of 2025, Falcon Cove Beach's own representatives on the steering committee surveyed their neighbors and reported what they called a near-consensus, with many residents feeling strongly, that joining an Arch Cape incorporation was not in their community's interest. Falcon Cove Beach withdrew.

By the January 2026 forum, though, Falcon Cove Beach was still part of the public conversation. Some residents there told organizers they preferred the area's current low-infrastructure character, no streetlights, gravel roads, and worried about being pulled back into consideration without their direct consent. Steering committee members responded that subareas could still be handled independently and that Falcon Cove Beach's status would be reflected in the committee's final recommendation, expected this November.

Whatever the precise reason for that back and forth, the practical lesson holds. The map for a future Arch Cape city has already shifted once, for the community closest to the process, and it wasn't fully settled months later. Special districts sitting entirely inside a new city's boundary are typically absorbed by default, their assets, debts, and service duties transferred to the new government, unless the ballot measure specifically carves them out. That would include Arch Cape's own water and sanitary districts, the ones responsible for the domestic water supply and sewer hookups that determine what you can build on a given lot.

What This Means If You're Comparing Towns

Cannon Beach already has its own city council, its own zoning authority, and its own established process for administering rental permits. Buy there today and you know who's setting the rules and how to reach them. Buy in Arch Cape today and you're transacting under Clatsop County's Section 5.24, a rulebook that has existed since 2004 and was last revised in 2022, with no guarantee it stays in county hands past this fall's recommendation.

That doesn't mean a purchase should wait on the outcome. Even if the steering committee recommends moving forward in November, Oregon law requires a separate statutory economic feasibility statement, covering a first and third year budget, before the question can actually reach voters. That's a second, distinct step, not a formality tacked onto the first. Realistically, any change to who governs Arch Cape is still a matter of years, not months.

What it does mean is that the incorporation study belongs on the same due diligence list as a septic report or a water district capacity check. Before writing an offer on an Arch Cape property, particularly one with an existing STR permit, it's worth asking whether the parcel falls inside the mapped study area, when the current permit was last renewed under Section 5.24, and which utility district actually serves the lot. Airbnb market data for the area covering April 2025 through March 2026 puts average annual revenue for an active Arch Cape short-term rental at roughly $97,000, with occupancy around 53% and an average nightly rate near $540. That's real money riding on a rulebook whose author hasn't been decided.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the incorporation study change anything for someone who already holds an Arch Cape STR permit today? Not yet. Existing permits continue to operate under the county's current Section 5.24 standards. The steering committee's own timeline points to a recommendation this November on whether to pursue a ballot measure at all, and a separate feasibility statement would still be required afterward before any vote could happen.

If Arch Cape becomes a city, would that automatically replace the county's rental rules? The study anticipates a new city could adopt its own standards, but some services, ambulance response and 911 dispatch among them, would remain county functions no matter the outcome. Special districts entirely inside the new boundary would typically transfer to the city by default unless the ballot measure says otherwise.

Is Falcon Cove Beach in or out of this process? Its status has shifted. A fall 2025 survey of Falcon Cove Beach residents reported strong opposition to joining, and the area formally withdrew. By the following January, though, its inclusion was still part of the public discussion, with organizers saying subareas could be addressed separately in the committee's final recommendation.

Buying land or a home in Arch Cape means buying into a place where the rulebook itself is still being drafted. If you're weighing a specific listing there, whether it's an established rental or raw land, and want a clear read on where it sits relative to the study area and its permit history, Andrea Mace and the Mace Team can walk through it with you. Schedule a concierge consultation before you write the offer, not after.