In recent months — as our local elected leaders have struggled with the explosion of vacation rentals in Archuleta County — we’ve heard appeals from realtors and property managers and STR owners, that decisions should be based on ‘data’.
We are not told, however, where and how this ‘data’ would be acquired, or of what the ‘data’ might consist. Nevertheless, the implication is that decisions are being made without sufficient ‘data’.
We did not hear any such appeals, however, over the past ten years, when government decisions generally favored the unchecked expansion of the STR industry. Apparently, we didn’t need ‘data’ when government decisions were favoring the real estate industry and the tourism industry.
Apparently, we need ‘data’ only when we’re trying to place limitations on an out-of-control tourism economy, or on industries that are negatively affecting the lives of full-time residents.
The weird thing about ‘data’ is, even when it actually exists, a critic can easily find reasons to dismiss it as ‘biased and incomplete’, and thus, essentially meaningless.
In a sense, belief in any particular ‘data set’ requires a faith similar to religious faith — and as we all know, people follow a variety of different religions.
I reminded the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners, on Tuesday, of ‘data’ published last year in the Southwest Colorado Council of Governments’ regional housing needs assessment — data that purportedly showed a severe shortage of workforce housing in Archuleta County in 2021, estimated at 800 dwelling units — but a clever realtor can easily dismiss that ‘data’ with the claim that our housing crisis is actually the result of low wages, rather than the impact of 1,178 homes converted into STRs.
Region 9 ‘data’ shows Archuleta County to have the highest cost of living of any county in southwest Colorado.
And ‘data’ from the Southwest Colorado Council of Governments study indicates:
Almost half (44%) of all the STRs listed in the region are located around Pagosa Springs (1,290 active rentals), another 38 percent are in and around Durango (1,113 active rentals).
With one-quarter the population of La Plata County, Pagosa has more STRs than the Durango area. That means, more than four times the number of STRs per capita.
But this is merely ‘data’. Anyone can dismiss it, or argue it away.
In fact, local realtor Mike Knapp did exactly that, at Tuesday’s BOCC hearing, arguing that “44% of all the STRs listed in the region are located around Pagosa Springs” is meaningless data because we have a different type of economy from the rest of southwest Colorado.
There’s one type of data that’s harder to dismiss. Last April, the registered voters in the town of Pagosa Springs were presented with a rather outrageous proposal. “Should the Town government collect a monthly fee from STRs, amounting to $150 per bedroom?” Since most STRs in the town are three-bedroom, this amounts to a fee of $5,400 per year for those homes. The money was to be used exclusively to increase the availability of workforce housing.
Four-bedroom STRs would pay $7,200 a year.
Did the town electors find this proposal outrageous? Not at all. The majority actually voted ‘Yes’. You can’t really argue with that kind of data.
This new voter-approved fee is now being challenged in court by a group of STR owners. But the data is clear. Most town voters who cast a ballot felt that STRs ought to be charged a hefty fee to help address the housing crisis they’re partly responsible for causing.
The six-month moratorium passed by the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners, on Tuesday, makes it clear that the BOCC also believes the STR industry has negatively impacted housing availability in our town.
To repeat the language from Resolution 2022-75, as shared yesterday:
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…
These statements are now an official part of the government record.
Following the approval of the moratorium, Commissioner Warren Brown addressed the audience, which was composed largely of real estate agents and STR owners.
“I would like to see a committee formed, no more than 15 people, one representative from each profession. And I’d like to have a County staff on that. I’m throwing that out there. Vacation rental user, vacation rental neighbor, vacation rental owner, lodging owner, real estate agent, property manager, tourism board member, workforce or low income housing representative, and potentially an ‘at large’.
“We need to get people’s hind ends into chairs, and have these conversations.
“We have six months.
“Ready… go.”
Six months for 15 people, representing all the professions in Archuleta County, to develop a reasonable path forward, to mitigate the damage wrought on Pagosa Springs by the STR industry and its handmaidens in the real estate industry.
Ideally, a compromise solution that will make everyone equally unhappy. Or happy, as the case may be.
More about this committee in a future editorial.