Longmont homeowners who own and live in one residence but also own a second home within the city limits would no longer be able to rent out that second dwelling unit for periods of fewer than 30 days, under a potential policy change informally endorsed by a majority of City Council members this past week.
That’s one of the changes that could be in the works for Longmont’s short-term rentals permitting system when the city staff returns with its own recommendations and suggestions for updating and amending pertinent provisions of the Land Development Code that the council adopted in August 2018 and that took effect in early 2019.
That staff report will probably be scheduled for a council study session some time in September, Assistant City Manager Joni Marsh said in a Friday interview. Preparation of — and formal council votes on — any ordinances stemming from informal council decisions in September would come after that study session.
Tuesday night’s council discussion covered a range of issues, including complaints some council members said they’d received from neighbors of some of the short-term rental housing units that do have city permits — complaints the staff said included allegations that some of those units have become “party houses,” where the temporary tenants have been disobeying Longmont’s noise ordinance.
Councilwoman Polly Christensen also raised the issue of whether every home being operated as a short-term rental has registered with, and gotten a permit from, the city. She suggested there may be hundreds more such residences than the 80 residences that currently have “active” city-issued permits.
City staff told the council that Longmont this year is paying $6,580 to a company, Host Compliance, to research on the Internet and provide a list of all properties within the city operating as short-term rentals.
That list will be updated at least weekly, and the city’s Code Enforcement Division is using this data to monitor short-term rentals and notify owners of Longmont’s permit requirement.
“Staff does not foresee any problems getting the remaining unpermitted STRs in compliance with this requirement,” it wrote in its memo to the council.
Staff said that in the nearly 1 1/2 years since the city began issuing short-term-rental permits in January 2019, Code Enforcement has logged nine complaints for failure to meet the permit requirement. Six were for operating without a permit, and three were complaints that the owner of the housing unit was not living within the city limits as required.
Tuesday’s staff report did not detail what actions were taken to resolve those complaints.
Staff also reported that over the past 18 months, Longmont police have received a total of 54 calls for service to 30 residences on the city’s list of short-term rentals that do have city permits.
However, Don Burchett, the city’s planning manager, told the council that it cannot say whether those calls represented incidents actually involving the temporary tenants of the housing units because the police list was just based on the addresses of city-permitted short-term rental locations staff gave police.
“It is unknown how many of these calls were actually related to the use of the property as a short-term rental,” Burchett said during the meeting.
“The calls have varied significantly from an intrusion alarm, parking, animal complaints, noise, fraud, littering, welfare check and (one) death,” staff wrote the council.
Christensen stated her opposition Tuesday to any policy or local law or code changes that would promote adding more short-term rentals to Longmont’s inventory. She said the city should instead be promoting the availability and use of homes by renters or buyers who want and need long-term housing in Longmont.
She objected to the current code’s authorization for Longmont residents to buy second homes and turn then into what she called “30-night hotels.”
Christensen and the other council members appeared opposed to — but did not vote on — a suggestion that property owners living outside Longmont — or limited-liability companies based in or outside Longmont — be allowed to get city short-term rental permits for investment properties they buy inside Longmont’s city limits.
No council member spoke in favor of that idea, and no one offered a motion to have staff include it when it returns with ordinance amendment suggestions.
Currently, however, Longmont residents who own a second, or an investment, dwelling unit can also rent that unit for short terms, subject to occupancy limits and other city requirements.
Councilwoman Joan Peck suggested Tuesday night that when the code provisions about short-term rentals are amended, that second-home permitting should be ended. Her motion to direct staff to return with that as a possible code amendment ordinance for formal future council consideration was approved on a 5-2 vote.
Christensen said removing the possibility of permitting a Longmont owner’s second home from the category of housing that Longmont allows to be used for short-term rentals would resolve many of the issues she has about such housing but still allow its presence in the city.
Mayor Brian Bagley cast one of the dissenting votes. He said there are “plenty of people” in Longmont “who aren’t rich” and could benefit from investment in a second home — and renting that home out for short periods — as a source of income to help pay their other current expenses or to build the savings they’lll need when they retire.
“Just because you own property doesn’t mean you’re rich or a developer,” Bagley said.
Councilwoman Marcia Martin, who also voted against precluding the use of second homes for short-term rentals, said that when it comes to neighbors’ complaints about an absentee landlord’s temporary tenants — even if that short-term rental-unit’s landlord lives elsewhere within Longmont — said she thought what is needed instead is enforcement of the city codes designed to prevent lllegal or bothersome activities in residential neighborhoods.
Joining Peck and Christensen in the informal vote to direct the staff to include the second-home, short-term rentals prohibition in the potential ordinance it will be bringing back for further council review this fall were Councilwoman Susie Hiddalgo-Fahring and Councilmen Tin Waters and Aren Rodriguez.
Later in Tuesday’s meeting, council members voted unanimously to have staff prepare its own recommendations for clarifying and updating Longmont’s short-term rentals code provisions, requirements and penalties — the recommendations the staff is now expected to present council for a resumed discussion this fall.
“I would like you to tell us what you think we should do” to resolve complaints the council has been getting about short-term rentals and the current code, Bagley told staff.
Several council members said during Tuesday’s meeting that there need to be “more teeth” in the code as far as enforcing short-term rental requirements and penalizing homeowners who violate those requirements or allow the homes to become the source of neighborhood nuisances — and the penalties that could result for noncompliance.
“I would suggest that we have some fines,” Christensen said.
Under the city code provisions that took effect last year, short-term rentals can include all or part of the owner’s primary residence or a separate accessory dwelling unit on the property. They cannot be rented for more than 30 days.
For the time being, and until the council amends it if it eventually does, Longmont’s code also allows residents who own a second, or an investment, dwelling unit to rent that unit for short terms, subject to occupancy limits and other city requirements.
Longmont limits the occupancy of an entire dwelling being rented to no more than two people per bedroom, plus two additional people. Each bedroom rented must be a legal conforming bedroom under the city code. Dwellings with more than five bedrooms rented for short-term rentals require a fire suppression sprinkler system.
Longmont also limits the number of short-term rentals allowed in most single-family neighborhoods.
The regulations include requirements for an annual $100 permit and city inspections to ensure that rentals comply with building occupancy and life safety requirements and that they don’t create a nuisance for the surrounding neighborhood,.
All short-term rental dwelling units in Longmont must get a city permit and a sales and use tax license, which includes a one-time $25 fee. Unlicensed short-term rentals are subject to code enforcement, notices of violation and shutdowns, officials have said. Operating a short-term rental without a permit in violation of the municipal code can result in fines of up $500 daily.
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Longmont City Council reviews, will revisit, short-term rental rules - Longmont Times-Call
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