Summit County government implements short-term rental moratorium in neighborhood zones

For the 2nd time within just a year, Summit County govt has handed a small-expression rental moratorium. The initial 3-month moratorium took impact very last slide, and now this 2nd 9-thirty day period moratorium, effective promptly, will set a pause on any licenses becoming issued inside of the county’s community zones.

The moratorium does have some exemptions, like individuals who are by now below deal with a residence and had prepared to implement for a license. The county will also established up a process in which community users can apply for a specific exemption for other special instances too.

The conclusion to implement a moratorium came as a shock to several local community associates, specially these in the area house management and authentic estate industries, quite a few of whom attended the Summit Board of County Commissioners’ perform session and standard meetings on Tuesday, May perhaps 24. Throughout the early morning do the job session, the commissioners heard a presentation from Summit County Senior Planner Jessica Potter, who reiterated the present trajectory for brief-time period license apps so much this year.

A several weeks ago, Potter advised the commissioners all through a function session conference on May 3 that the county’s new shorter-term rental method was not deterring the quantity of license apps, particularly its Type 2 licenses. These specific licenses are for neighborhood zones — or regions that are typically occupied by locals these kinds of as Wildernest, Dillon Valley and Mesa Cortina. The new rules handed in December capped the variety of evenings these models could be rented out at 135 per 12 months.

The presentation previously this thirty day period showed projections for the relaxation of the 12 months, and the commissioners read these quantities all over again in the course of Tuesday’s work session conference. Afterwards that working day, they held a vote on a nine-thirty day period moratorium for short-term rental licenses in neighborhood zones.

All through the commissioners’ frequent conference that afternoon, up to 115 community associates turned in virtually and yet another 40-50 community associates attended in man or woman. Potter spelled out why the county was voting on these types of a evaluate. That incorporated the adhering to: 60% of shorter-phrase rentals authorised in 2022 have been in neighborhood zones in the 2nd fifty percent of 2021, 39% of property profits resulted in a small-term rental license, which is up from the second fifty percent of 2020 and 68% of all brief-expression rentals are owned by an individual who life outdoors of Summit County.

Right after Potter’s presentation, 23 speakers voiced their discontent — and, at instances, anger — with the commissioners.

At least four people referred to as the vote a “knee-jerk response.” Numerous speakers expressed their surprise that the county was having up a vote so out of the blue. A couple much more questioned that the commissioners lengthen their vote until finally soon after the summer year, which is commonly when the area actual estate market place sees the most transactions out of the yr.

“Give us a possibility to gain a living,” claimed Karen Mapes, Breckenridge resident and true estate agent for Re/Max Houses of the Summit.

A couple other individuals pointed out that the new regulations had just been imposed previous December, and they questioned no matter if or not the county had ample responsible data to make their conclusion.

“It does not seem that there’s been any valid details or research to aid the way that the county is heading with brief-term rentals,” stated Tess Scalise, a Dillon resident and serious estate agent for Re/Max Properties of the Summit. “We don’t know conclusively that restricting the range of limited-expression rental licenses or the number of shorter-phrase rental opportunities will make a difference on workforce housing.”

Other comments at the assembly incorporated concern how this moratorium might impact locals working in positions this sort of as housekeepers, routine maintenance staff, landscapers and the like.

“I’d like to make a very unique request to not pass this moratorium nowadays,” explained Adam Parker, who life in unincorporated Summit County and is the proprietor of Summit Luxurious Estates. “I experienced no idea — I really don’t think virtually anybody had an plan — that this was even on the menu. I observed an electronic mail yesterday, scrambled to attempt to make it below only to discover out when I got listed here that you are in fact heading to vote on this currently, and I’m like this cannot be true. How could some thing this important not have been communicated with the community?”

At the conclusion of the general public remark period, some of the commissioners, as properly as Potter, answered some of these problems. Potter said that when the county executed its a few-month small-term rental moratorium past 12 months, it been given 172 license programs inside a issue of times. The tight turnaround for this moratorium is to continue to keep that from taking place again.

Potter also dealt with the worry that community work opportunities would take a hit if a moratorium was set in spot. She mentioned that in total, there are concerning 9,000 and 10,000 licenses in the county that currently assist regional firms.

Both equally Summit County Commissioners Josh Blanchard and Elisabeth Lawrence explained the board was not “anti-STRs” and that they knew the county necessary limited-expression rentals to assistance its tourist populace. Even so, both expressed their drive to harmony this industry’s desires with the requires of the rest of the neighborhood.

Last but not least, Summit County Commissioner Tamara Pogue addressed local community concerns about the quick rate of setting up a moratorium. Pogue claimed when she normally takes walks around her property, there are numerous persons commonly parked along a close by street who dwell from their cars and trucks and that a lot of of these people today operate in the county. She pointed to them as a purpose for relocating quickly.

“I question what all those folks would come to feel about today’s dialogue,” Pogue mentioned. “Would they urge us to hurry? Would they say that this is a crisis? (What) would they say (about) the five month’s well worth of info that confirmed us what we did previous fall has not minimized the sluggish of the enhance in brief-phrase rental license purposes? I really don’t feel they would talk to us to wait. I believe they would inquire us to do whichever we can to assist them.”