John Scarffe, Boulder County. The Boulder County Land Use Planning Commission recommended moving forward with short-term rental regulations during a regular, online meeting on October 21, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. Boulder County Staff Planner Jasmine Rodenburg introduced proposals regarding short-term rentals in Boulder County. 

On July 2, 2019, the Board of County Commissioners authorized Community Planning & Permitting (CP&P) staff to pursue text amendments to the Short-Term Dwelling Rental and Bed and Breakfast provisions in the Boulder County Land Use Code. Subsequently, in March 2020, the Colorado State Legislature passed HB 20-1093 authorizing counties, including Boulder County, to license and regulate short-term rentals. 

As a result, CP&P Staff propose a two-pronged approach to regulate short-term rentals. First, text amendments to the Boulder County Land Use Code, and second a Licensing Ordinance. The text amendments and the Licensing Ordinance will work together to regulate short-term dwelling rentals in Boulder County, according to the proposal. 

Staff recommended that the Boulder County Planning Commission approve and adopt the proposed Land Use Code text amendments and, further, that the Planning Commission recommend that the Board of County Commissioners approve and adopt the proposed text amendments only if the coordinating Licensing Ordinance is also approved and adopted. 

The existing use provisions for Short-Term Dwelling Rentals were created in 2008, according to the proposal. These provisions need an update considering the prolific growth of short-term rentals and how the impacts of that growth could benefit or burden the County, according to the proposal. 

Staff has heard consistent input from county residents that the existing regulations do not adequately address the impacts of short-term rentals. Staff are particularly concerned about balancing the benefits and burdens of Short-Term Dwelling Rentals, maintaining housing stock and housing affordability, better addressing impacts of the use and more effective enforcement of Short-Term Dwelling Rental regulations. 

The main objectives of the proposed text amendments are to clarify the Bed and Breakfast use and to differentiate among multiple types of short-term rental uses and address their associated impacts, both positive and negative. Staff recognizes that short-term rentals have many benefits to private property owners and the community, including offering supplemental income, supporting the local economy through tourism, creating local job opportunities and fostering a sense of community between short-term rental hosts and guests. 

Staff recognized that short-term rentals can have negative impacts on the health, safety and welfare of guests occupying them and the surrounding community. These include increased housing costs, depletion of long-term housing opportunities and various safety and health hazards associated with transient lodging in rural areas where infrastructure and services are limited and where guests may be unfamiliar with unique risks that exist, such as wildfire. 

The proposed text amendments include updates to both the Short-Term Dwelling Rental and Bed and Breakfast uses. The current Code defines Bed and Breakfasts as “an owner-occupied or tenant-occupied single-family dwelling unit offering transient lodging accommodations within that dwelling where meals may be provided” and only distinguishes them from Short-Term Dwelling Rentals in terms of the meals offered and the occupancy limitation. 

As opposed to the Bed and Breakfast use, Short-Term Dwelling Rentals serve only one booking party at a time, may or may not serve meals and may or may not be owner- or manager-occupied. The current Code treats all Short-Term Dwelling Rentals equally, regardless of the specific site or operational circumstances; however, based on the research showing the need for a nuanced approach to short-term rentals with an eye towards housing impacts, staff proposed differentiating short-term rentals into three different categories: 

1. Primary Dwelling Short-Term Rental: A single-family dwelling unit offering transient lodging accommodations to a single booking party at a time within that dwelling unit for a rental duration of fewer than 30 days where the dwelling unit is the primary residence of the owner. 

2. Secondary Dwelling Short-Term Rental: A single-family dwelling unit offering transient lodging accommodations to a single booking party at a time within that dwelling unit for a rental duration of fewer than 30 days. 

3. Vacation Rental: A single-family dwelling unit offering transient lodging accommodations to a single booking party at a time within that dwelling unit for a rental duration of fewer than 30 days. 

In conjunction with the text amendments, the proposed Licensing Ordinance is aimed at facilitating safe accommodations, addressing potential negative impacts to neighbors and the community and providing more effective enforcement mechanisms for short-term rentals. 

Staff received 75 unique written comments, which were fairly evenly split between those individuals asking for the regulations to be favorable towards short-term rentals, those asking for the regulations to be as stringent as possible against short-term rentals, those asking for something in between and those just asking questions of the process and proposed text amendments and Licensing Ordinance. Staff finds the proposed text amendments are in accordance with the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan and this criterion is met. 

Staff finds that the criteria for a Land Use Code text amendment have been met. Further, staff finds that the proposed text amendments appropriately balance the competing values of housing stock and affordability, a tourism economy and the health, safety and welfare of Boulder County residents. 

Commissioners were comfortable moving forward. It is in place and not creating something new but will make it more obvious to the public. The Planning Commission moved that they recommend with conditions that the Boulder County Commission adopt the short-term language and look into reducing the minimum acreage below one acre and reducing the days of visitation and consider an administrative process.

(Originally published in the November 5, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)