One thing folks often consider to be a problem: differences of opinion. Especially, differences of opinion can feel like a problem when we get into issues that concern money, power, government or corporate oppression, hunger, poverty… those big issues.
Lack of housing for certain segments of our community. Private property rights. Noise and congestion. Those big issues.
We heard some different opinions expressed at a Pagosa Springs Town Council work session on April 28. The topic of discussion: vacation rentals.
The discussion kicked off with a short presentation by Town Manager Andrea Phillips, who offered a number of facts, and estimates, and assumptions.
As of April 29, there were 111 permitted licenses issued in town limits, with another 14 pending, and six rentals identified as non-compliant (operating without a license). The Town began requiring an annual vacation rental license for 2019; current application fees are a total of $500 for the first year of the application ($250 for application fee and $250 for workforce housing surcharge) and each successive renewal is $400 ($200 for renewal license and $200 surcharge). Licenses define the number of people allowed to stay in the unit based upon the number of bedrooms, and the number of vehicles allowed to park on the property.
Half of the initial application fee, and half of the renewal fee, is allocated to ‘workforce housing’ in a restricted line item. The Town also charges a one-time fee of $100 for a conditional use permit, issued through the Planning Department. Vacation rentals are a ‘permitted use’ in commercial zoning districts, and are a ‘conditional use’ in residential districts. Licenses are non-transferable.
There are currently no limitations on the number or density of vacation rentals within the town. The Town inspects them on an annual basis, looking at health and safety issues like fire extinguishers, proper trash receptacles, emergency egress.
The Council was shown a map, indicating where the units are located within the town limits — the three-square-miles of incorporated town, in a county measuring 1,350 square miles. (The vast majority of the vacation rentals are, however, located outside the town limits, according to AirDNA.)
Complaints from neighbors — around noise, too many vehicles, trash, trespassing — go to the Town Planning department, but that department does not have sufficient staff to properly investigate or enforce Town regulations.
The Town is seeing significant revenues from vacation rental fees and from Lodgers Tax collections.
Ms. Phillips didn’t go much further into the complex subject, except to mention that “we believe we have about 850 housing units within the town limits, so using that number, about 15.4% of housing units are now vacation rentals.” About 65% of the vacation rentals are licensed to people with mailing addresses outside of the 81147 zip code.
The Town received 11 new vacation rental applications during the month of April, we were told.
As the Council began their discussion, Council member Mat deGraaf recommended some type of controls on density — possibly a town-wide cap, or regulations requiring a certain distance between units. Such regulations are already in place in numerous Colorado communities.
Council member Shari Pierce said she’d spent time thinking about this issue, and she shared some thoughts.
“My biggest question has to do with property owners’ rights. I don’t think we have the right to tell them whether they can rent short-term or long-term. property owners can choose to do that — and do the property rights of the neighbors, do they trump the rights of the owner who wants to have a rental, be it short- or long-term? I don’t know if that’s a path that I want to go down, and tell people what they can and cannot do with their properties.
“I feel like homes that are used for vacation rentals are likely not homes that would necessarily be affordable to full-time residents. And especially this year, with increasing property prices this year.
“And then, I don’t know if short-term renters are necessarily more problematic than long-term renters…”
I attend Town Council meetings on a regular basis, and I typically find myself sharing the same opinions as Shari Pierce. But at last week’s Thursday evening work session, Ms. Pierce and I were seeing the world through totally different lenses. So were other members of the public.
When Mayor Don Volger opened the floor to public testimony, downtown resident Kelly Lewis shared her concerns:
“I have seen my neighborhood start to deteriorate, with the number of short-term rentals that we have. When a house goes on the market, we’re all saying, ‘Oh, I really hope it’s not going to become another short-term rental.’ I would like to see density [controls] be something you guys look at, specifically for residential neighborhoods. Unlimited vacation rentals in commercial zones and the transitional zones is totally fine with me, but when it comes to residential neighborhoods, I’d like to see our community stay more intact…”
Implicit in Ms. Lewis’ comments is a well-accepted concept, that I doubt even Ms. Pierce would argue with. The concept of ‘zoning’.
The Town of Pagosa Springs, long ago, implemented zoning regulations to separate various land uses. Commercial operations — retail, restaurants, bars, theaters, real estate offices, and so on — are allowed in only certain zones, with the obvious intention of keeping residential zones quietly “residential.” As a downtown resident living in a residential zone, I am allowed to run a home business, so long as it doesn’t generate undue noise and traffic congestion. If I want to operate a hair styling business in my residential home, for example, the Town Land Use regulations state:
The following uses, because of their impacts on the surrounding residential area, shall not be permitted as home occupations: auto repair or motorized implement repair; dance, music or other types of instruction (if more than four (4) students are being instructed at one (1) time); dental offices; medical offices; the painting of vehicles, trailers or boats; private schools with organized classes; motor vehicle towing operation; barber or beauty shops having more than one (1) chair…
As a barber, in a residential neighborhood, I am limited to one chair.
But the owner of the house next-door… is allowed to rent out as a mini-motel, to three or four tourist families for the weekend?
The Town of Pagosa Springs long ago established its intention of limiting the impacts of commercial operations within residential neighborhoods. How honest is that intention?
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.