The Ocean Shores Planning Commission began to look at the long-debated issue of so-called camping lots that are now limited in use to 90 days during a calendar year under permit by the city.

As part of its update to the city’s comprehensive plan, the commission was charged with reviewing the issue, and options include possibly ending the policy with a sunset clause or even allowing up to 180 days for those who are willing to pay the fees and hook up to city sewer and water services.

While no decision was made at the Oct. 10 planning commission meeting, the review is drawing public interest and comment.

One of those to comment was Susan Larson who said she and her husband recently purchased property in Ocean Shores to use as a camping lot. She noted that in the Surfside community in the Long Beach area, where they also looked, lots can be used with an annual permit for the full summer, with an option for a winter occupancy as well to between 21 and 60 days.

Going to a similar system, she said, would increase revenue for the city as well as the tax value to the property.

“People would be able to use them more often than just the three months,” she said.

Resident Don Williams said he had no issue with the camping lots: “I enjoy the campers, but to allow them to go any longer than 90 days, we should require they be put on water, sewer and power.”

Doing so, Williams noted, would mean the property owners would be paying the city’s ambulance utility fee. “I would think that any expansion of camping be tied to utilities,” he said, also suggesting time limits for noise and for fires on camping lots.

Newer resident Maggie Ely spoke in favor of camping lots, saying that she’s found many to be “pristine. Most of them are much nicer than some of the homes in Ocean Shores.”

“We talked to a number of people who said if camping isn’t allowed in Ocean Shores, they will just leave,” she said. “I think we are missing a revenue source. The people who camp here spend money in our restaurants, in our shops, in our grocery stores. They are paying sales tax, and I think we are making a big mistake if we didn’t allow them to continue.”

Ely said she started coming to Ocean Shores in the 1970s and would either camp or stay in local hotels.

“There are people who can’t afford to have a second home, but they will always come to Ocean Shores to camp because we are a destination,” Ely said.

Planning Commission member Jeff Daniel noted the discussion arose out of the question, “What kind of a city do you want Ocean Shores to be?”

The original intent of the camping regulations, Daniel said, was to let people have an RV or camper on their lot for what originally was 30 days “so they would buy the lot, get there and then build their houses.”

“It was about giving the city the ability to grow as best it could,” Daniel said.

Most coastal cities, he noted, don’t allow camping as such in the city limits.

Planning commissioners in general agreed to discuss the issue again with all members present.

Daniel noted that people who use the camping lots aren’t counted as full-time residents.

“Do let this issue take care of itself?” asked Daniel, a leading real estate salesman. “Hundreds of vacant lots are purchased every year and turned over to new owners, and a lot of them are building new homes on them, adding to the population.”

Currently, there are about 3,000 undeveloped lots in Ocean Shores, Daniel noted. “The solution in my mind is what can we do to speed up the process to build more houses and increase the population” to provide for better services, stores and infrastructure.

Another commissioner, Greg Cox, noted no one has advocated a complete elimination of camping lots, only a potential to sunset the use over a “long period of time.” The sunset clause also would be limited to lots that are sold.

City staff member Linda Whitcher pointed out the 2007 version of the comprehensive plan set a goal to have the camping regulations reviewed every five years, and it’s now 10 years since that goal was established.

“That’s a mandate to us from the past,” she said.

Planning commission member Susan Conniry took exception with the contention the campers do not have a large impact on the Ocean Shores economy. She advocated for a longer period of stay to be allowed and better code enforcement for those who use their lots without the proper permit.

“There are a lot of people who own RV lots and I would really like for all of them to have the opportunity to weigh in on whatever it is that we are discussing,” Conniry said. “… I would hope that if we were to make a decision that we do it in such a way that they can be included in the conversation at some point.”

Daniel suggested it might be possible to create a new designation of “undeveloped lot” in the city for lots that are not now used for camping, and that could effectively curtail the creation of future camping lots. The next planning commission meeting is Tuesday.