MANSON — People who rent out their homes in Manson by the day or by the week will soon have to make sure their houses are safe and their renters act more like one of the neighbors than someone who’s there for a two-day party.

Chelan County commissioners on Monday ironed out details of a zoning code for downtown Manson and surrounding neighborhoods, and expect to adopt it at a final hearing next week, said Chelan County Planner Lilith Yanagimachi.

The new regulations will include standards for vacation rentals, when homeowners rent out their homes for fewer than 30 days. In addition to meeting fire and safety codes, the homes must maintain the character of the surrounding neighborhood regarding noise, garbage pickup and parking.

Commissioner Doug England said some Manson neighborhoods are overwhelmed with vacationers on big summer weekends.

Residents who participated in the planning meetings wanted some restrictions, he said.

“What they wanted was reasonable controls that both protect the neighborhood and actually increase the value of the rental as a getaway,” he said.

The new regulation will require the renters to be as quiet as a normal neighborhood late at night and early in the morning, he said.

It gives people who currently own vacation rentals 18 months to comply after the plan goes into effect, sometime in January.

England said he’s generally pleased with the new code, called the Manson Sub-Area Plan.

“It’s not a perfect plan. No plan is,” England said. But provisions allow the county to adjust the plan, both for population increases and for things that don’t seem to be working as anticipated.

Yanagimachi said the county has been working with residents for three years to come up with a plan.

She said other hot topics in the plan include reducing building height limits from 50 feet to 35 feet. Minimum lot sizes along Lake Chelan in one neighborhood — South Hyacinth Road — were also expanded to 16,000 square feet, compared with 10,000 square feet in other districts, she said.

K.C. Mehaffey: 997-2512

mehaffey@wenatcheeworld.com