In the photo above, we see realtor Mike Heraty standing at the podium, at the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners’ meeting on Tuesday, July 19, testifying on the question of a proposed six-month moratorium on new Short-Term Rental (STR) applications.
Resolution 2022-75.
From what I could tell, the ‘standing room only’ audience behind Mr. Heraty consisted largely of real estate agents, and STR owners, and property managers… the kind of folks generally most concerned about STR moratoriums and such.
Mr. Heraty has been one of the more active real estate brokers in Archuleta County, over the past decade, in terms of publicly expressing his opinions, to our various elected leaders, about various land use policies.
Mr. Heraty began his testimony on Tuesday by praising the County Planning Department for holding two public meetings regarding STR policies, at which the public was allowed to speak and offer ideas.
Mr. Heraty continued:
“I don’t like moratoriums. However, I appreciate that you’re willing to tap the brakes and put together a group which I would hope will include all the stakeholders, to really look at the facts, do the analytics, look at what other communities are doing, and review reliable data to determine if what they are doing working, by the objectives you’ve set relative to changing regulations on Short-Term Rentals.
“So for that reason, I’m going to be supportive of a moratorium, with a couple of exceptions.
“I think your language frankly sucks.”
Mr. Heraty was here referring to the language in Resolution 2022-75.
“What’s stated here is very prejudicial and lacks validation to back it up. For example, when you say we’re going to continue to experience substantial loss of housing stock to vacation rentals. Who’s made that determination, and how? And I think when you put that in a resolution, you’re prejudicing the community, and villainizing the STR owners. And I don’t think that’s necessary, and I don’t think it adds to the Resolution.
“As well as statements about overcrowding and infrastructure…”
You can download the whole Resolution 2022-75 here.
Here are the sections to which Mr. Heraty was likely referring to, and which, in his opinion, frankly suck.
WHEREAS, since the adoption of the amended [County Land Use Regulations], the number of vacation rentals in the County has continued to significantly increase, causing continued conflict within neighborhoods, and contributing to the continued loss of local workforce housing stock as housing units in traditionally local areas transition from long-term to short-term occupancy; and,
WHEREAS, the County is continuing to experience a housing crisis whereby local workers are unable to find housing and are leaving the community, resulting in local businesses being understaffed and cutting hours and services due to the lack of employees; and,
WHEREAS, to address similar issues, including overcrowding and the limitations of existing infrastructure to support the influx of visitors, the Town of Pagosa Springs has imposed an additional tax on short-term vacation rentals within the Town; and,
WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners has serious concerns that because of the above-referenced impacts from vacation rentals, unincorporated Archuleta County will continue to experience substantial additional loss of housing stock to vacation rentals in addition to what has already occurred; and,
WHEREAS, based on information presented to the Board by the staff of the Archuleta County Planning Development Services Department, as well as the businesses and citizens of Archuleta County, it appears that the existing rules and regulations in the [County Land Use Regulations] do not adequately address the impacts the County is experiencing and expects to experience in the coming months from vacation rentals…
Speaking as an investigative reporter who has been writing about Pagosa’s real estate industry and housing issues for the past 18 years… and speaking as the president of the 501c3 non-profit Pagosa Housing Partners… I would have to disagree with realtor Mike Heraty. I believe these statements in Resolution 2022-75 — far from frankly sucking — are an accurate description of the current situation in Archuleta County.
According to the STR tracking website AirDNA, Archuleta County had 1,040 active STRs in March 2022. In May, the number was 1,068.
In July, the number is 1,178.
12% growth in a matter of four months.
1,178 of our residential homes, now converted into mini-motels.
As County Attorney Todd Weaver explained later, accurate ‘WHEREAS’ statements are a necessary part of a government ordinance or resolution, to provide clear justification for the action — especially when the resolution might someday be challenged in court.
One person who likely agrees with Mike Heraty’s assessment, however, is his wife and business partner, Lauri Heraty, who also spoke to the County commissioners on Tuesday.
Ms. Heraty began her testimony:
“Um… so I know a guy who sells a lot of real estate in Pagosa Springs. I consider him to be pretty brilliant. I think people don’t realize that my husband Mike has been selling real estate since he was 18 years old.
“And back in the summer and fall of 2020, through a bunch of meetings — and there will be recording of them — Mike said, ‘This market will correct itself.’ We won’t have these issues.”
Presumably, the ‘issues’ would include STR investors from Texas driving up the price of Pagosa real estate like there was no tomorrow. Ms. Heraty didn’t specifically explain which issues she meant, but she did present anecdotal evidence that the real estate buying frenzy that took place in Archuleta County during 2020 and 2021 was finally calming down.
“We’re here. The market is correcting itself. I’m going to leave these statistics so you can take a look at them. Here, as of 8am this morning, there were 30 townhomes and condos available, as of June.
“Last June, there were 3…”
Ms. Heraty continued sharing real estate statistics that demonstrated a cooling down of the Pagosa real estate market. She stated she was opposed to a moratorium, but, if the commissioners must approve Resolution 2022-75, she recommended that the moratorium begin on November 1, rather than immediately.
As Ms. Heraty surely realizes, such a delay would likely crank up the heat on the local real estate market, as investors from surrounding states rushed to buy up available local residential properties and beat the moratorium deadline…