We’ve seen some changes over the past few years, and some could easily be considered ‘extraordinary’.
As distinct from the ‘ordinary’ changes.
Everyone getting older, for example. That’s an ordinary change. The arrival of children and grandchildren. Pickup trucks were getting bigger. Different people elected to spend our tax money.
The gradual development of mobile phones during the 1990s could probably be classified as ‘ordinary change’…. up until the release of the iPhone in 2007, and then Android phones later that same year. Those mobile phone-computer-camera-GPS devices resulted in extraordinary changes in the way we interact with each other and with our surroundings.
The slow decline of the United States as the world’s leading industrial economy, and the rise of China and Asia as the world’s manufacturing center, could probably be seen as ‘ordinary change’.
Likewise, the ordinary changes here in Archuleta County. The rise and fall of the timber and ranching economy, and the push to become a tourist destination beginning in the 1980s… that was nothing too extraordinary.
But the explosive growth of the second-home real estate market during the 1990s… and the conversion of certain residential neighborhoods into vacation-rental districts during the 2010s… I would call those changes ‘extraordinary’.
We might see some more changes in the coming months, regarding the vacation rental industry. Up until just the last couple of years, our Town and County governments treated vacation rentals as a private property right, and allowed the industry to grow unchecked. As it became more apparent that an unfettered increase in the number of STRs — Short-Term Rentals — was contributing significantly to the community’s housing crisis, the Town and County put some licensing requirements and permit fees in place.
That move did nothing to stop the trend.
Then the Town limited the number of allowable STRs within residential zoning district… but allowed them to increase in mixed-use zones. The Town voters then placed significantly higher fees on STRs; that move is being challenged in court.
The County government sat on its hands and did nothing to limit STR growth, and as a result, watched its Lodgers Tax collections climb, as more neighborhoods were impacts by STRs. Ten years ago, the County was collecting about $85,000 a year in Lodgers Tax. Last year, the number was $410,000. According to County Manager Derek Woodman, the number of licensed vacation rentals in the unincorporated county has doubled in just the past couple of years.
The outbreak of tourism in Pagosa Springs, during the COVID outbreak — when folks in the American West decided to drive to nearby vacation destinations rather than fly in airplanes — was certainly an extraordinary change. I’m not sure which outbreak was the more troubling.
In 2021, the budget of the Pagosa Springs Area Tourism Board — the joint Town/County committee tasked with spending tax money to encourage the tourist economy — was headed for another record year of Lodgers Tax revenue. Including the amounts collected by Town hotels and STRs, and County STRs, the Tourism Board saw its budget grow to twice the revenue collected in 2015… and three times the revenue collected in 2010…
No doubt some people saw the tourism growth as a positive change. Some of those people might be elected or appointed government officials.
But Pagosa Springs was not enjoying its ongoing housing crisis. Working families and individuals with rented accommodations were being evicted… as their homes were purchased by STR investors… with little chance of finding a rental they could afford. Businesses were cutting back on hours of service, due to lack of employees.
The curve of skyrocketing home prices in Archuleta County was disturbingly similar to the curve of increased tourism taxes, showing a tripling of the median home price since 2011.
The data for the above graph came from CREN (Colorado Real Estate Network), courtesy one of our local realtors.
Down the road to the west in Durango, the city government had placed much stricter limits on the number of vacation rentals allowed in neighborhoods. As a result of those limits — and other factors — Durango now has about one STR per 50 residents.
Archuleta County has about one STR per 11 residents.
This past July, the Board of County Commissioners determined that enough might be enough, and placed a six-month moratorium on new vacation rental permits, to allow the development of new land use regulations. A ‘Vacation Rental Task Force’ has been created, and will hold a handful of meetings between now and the end of the year, presumably to recommend what those new regulations might look like.
Some proposed policy changes were presented to the BOCC and to the public, last June, by the County Planning Department. The policy recommendations included a number of ideas that might slow the growth of the STR industry, while also contribute in some way to addressing our current housing crisis. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. The policy recommendations were based partly on what other Colorado communities were doing to mitigate STR impacts.
From the ‘Vacation Rental Policy Options’ document:
These slides explain four (4) different policy options for Vacation Rentals that are being considered by Archuleta County. After reviewing these slides, you will be asked to participate in a survey to rank the 4 Options and provide brief feedback. The results of this survey will be provided to the Board of County Commissioners for their consideration.
The Planning Department did post an online survey, to see how the public felt about the four ‘options’.
You can download the Vacation Rental Policy notes here.
The BOCC did not make a decision to adopt any of the four policies suggested by the County Planning Department. Instead, the BOCC put a vacation rental moratorium in place and instructed their staff to assemble an representative citizens group to make policy recommendations.
As Commissioner Ronnie Maez is fond of saying, government moves “as slow as molasses in the winter”. But the changes can nevertheless be extraordinary. The change at the BOCC, from a few years ago — when the commissioners were taking a ‘hands-off’ approach to a new, and impactful, industry — to the fall of 2022, with a moratorium in place, a set of policy recommendations developed, and a task force established?
Extraordinary changes?