New rules aimed at regulating short-term rentals in unincorporated Boulder County could choke needed revenue longtime property owners get from tourism, wedding receptions and reunions, according to those opposed to the regulations.
“A lot of people from Boulder and Longmont come to our communities to get away from the pandemic for just a little while,” said Allenspark property owner Rosemary Donahue, who rents out her home and an adjoining cabin. “We are not an HOA. We are a rural community and if we want to rent out our cabin for 30 people for a celebration that is our right to do so.”
Donahue said she and other mountain-area families who rent their cabins for less than 30 days are bristling at text amendments and a proposed short-term rental licensing ordinance that will go before the Boulder County commissioners this week.
County planners say the new regulations are needed to prevent outside companies and groups from gobbling up rental properties that could be used for families looking for affordable housing.
The commissioners will hold two virtual public hearings on the changes beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday. After the public hearings, the commissioners could approve the amendments and licensing ordinance and staff will work on an implementation plan, according to a Boulder County webpage dedicated to the issue.
The virtual public hearing will be conducted using Zoom. Registration is required to attend and/or to speak during the public comment portion of the hearing.
The county is unfairly targeting short-term rentals in an effort to increase affordable housing stock in the county, Donahue said. The regulations are too complicated, too harsh and could cripple the county’s long-standing tradition of offering vacation rentals, she said.
The regulations also include preconditions and time-consuming and expensive licensure requirements that many property owners cannot meet, Donahue said.
“... The proposed rules ban all wedding activity by rental guests occurring on residential property, impose an eight-person maximum occupancy regardless of the size of the property and put onerous requirements on properties being rented more than 60 days per year,” according to a news release put out on behalf of property owners.
“A lot of us depend on income from the properties we rent for our retirement,” Donahue said. “This is important to us. The county is getting involved in something that the government does not belong in.”
The new rules came about after a year of study and a number of complaints that too many rental properties were being offered by out-of-town companies and groups that had little vested interest in Boulder County, Jasmine Rodenburg, a senior county planner.
“I think our biggest concern for us in Boulder County is our housing stock and of people buying up investment properties and renting them out on a short-term basis and taking housing off the market,” Rodenburg said. “We’re hoping to mitigate those impacts.”
The proposed changes calls for a short-term dwelling rental and vacation rental licensing program.It also targets the amount of time and the number of guests allowed for vacation rentals and bed and breakfasts, according to the Boulder County webpage.
The county is not interested in abolishing weddings and other reunions, they just have to fit within the proposed new rules, Rodenburg said.
“You can still host your daughter’s wedding,” she said. “But just because you have a short-term rental does not allow you to host a bunch of weddings and events repeatedly for the same property.”
