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In an effort to mitigate the impacts of short-term rents on long-term occupants, Snowmass Village City Council spent much of the March 21 meeting reflecting on how the city could regulate the duration and frequency of short-term stays in some residential units.
Or, as Councilman Tom Fridstein said, “You can limit the number of stays or the number of days.”
The City Council did not take any action in this regard this week, but brainstormed what this regulation would look like during a discussion with various representatives of local landlord associations.
How it would manifest would depend on the type of unit in question, and the limits would only apply to stays of 29 days or less. A stay of 30 days or more would constitute a long-term rental.
For short-term rented single-family homes, the council discussed a minimum stay of seven nights with a maximum of seven stays per year. There could also be a maximum of 50 short-term rental nights per year; homeowners could rent their home in seven different one-week stays or in fewer longer stays (such as a combination of five different 10-night bookings).
For multi-family units such as apartments, the city council considered a limit on a short-term reservation per week with no time limits. This concept could allow condominium owners to rent for a shorter period of time while slowing down the impacts of frequent unit rotation.
Steve Frischmann, speaking on behalf of the Meadow Ranch, Woodbridge and Snowmass Mountain condominiums, noted that “it’s the multiple rotations in a week” that seems to have the most impact.
“I think a night limit, a minimum limit is a necessity, in my opinion,” Frishmann said; said a seven-day booking period would be a good point to mitigate the impacts of billing. Frischmann also suggested limits on short-term low-season rentals to offer long-term occupants a “break” in those quieter periods.
Limits would not apply to hotels or the vast majority of condo properties such as The Timberline or The Crestwood that have historically offered short-term rental units and have dedicated (and reception) staff who manage this experience. of the guests.
The regulations could also have some flexibility. Councilman Tom Fridstein suggested that the city allow some clemency over multi-family property regulations if most homeowners in an association decide they agree to more frequent short-term rentals.
“If a HOA or building organization comes to us and says,‘ Well, you know, we’ve established that we want to have multiple rentals and 67% of our landlords have agreed to it, ’(then) we can afford it. said Fridstein.
City Council members now have time to refine these ideas as staff insure the details. City Manager Clint Kinney said he plans to return a proposal to City Hall in two weeks; if the city council finds it up to par, “then we can send it to the community for feedback,” he said.
The idea of limiting “number of stays” and “number of days” is aimed at addressing residents’ concerns about the nature of their neighborhoods and the impacts of short-term rents on factors such as traffic and noise.
But one member, Councilman Tom Goode, argues that it is up to homeowners associations, not the city, to decide what duration and frequency limitations should exist in the first place.
“I think the City Council should stay out of this.… I still feel strongly that the HOAs are stronger than the City Council,” Goode said. He would like the associations to enact and enforce the limitations.
Some Snowmass VIllage landlord associations already do this because they have more restrictive limits on the duration and frequency of short-term rentals in these neighborhoods.
At The Divide, for example, homeowners can rent their home in the short term once every calendar year for no more than 15 days, according to resident Bill Boineau. (Boineau’s wife, Deirdre, is the manager of the association there and the couple lives in the neighborhood, he said.)
Kinney told the meeting that the city “sets the bar” for regulations; associations can vote to approve stricter ones.
But other neighborhoods do not have these same limitations, said Councilwoman Alyssa Shenk. Not all homeowners’ associations already have firm regulations.
“You have a lot of local families who are very upset about the number of rentals around them in a given week, during the winter and summer, and I think we need to listen to that,” Shenk said.
For those families not covered by their association, “I feel the burden falls on us to do something,” Shenk said.
This week’s conversation was part of an ongoing process to develop a short-term rental permit process and consider possible rules for short-term rental operators.
City staff are currently refining this permit concept with the goal of developing a system that can track and regulate short-term rents that potentially provide income to support housing for the workforce.
kwilliams@aspentimes.com