Rosemary Donahue and her husband since the 1990s have been banking on a comfortable retirement supported by income they make renting their historic Allenspark home and cabin.
But if the Boulder County Commissioners on Thursday approve changes to the county’s short-term rental regulations, Donahue is fearful that will no longer be the case because of an onerous licensing and review process and expensive fees for any regulation violations.
Donahue believes the new regulations would have financial consequences for her but also could have a broader economic impact and would affect cleaning and maintenance companies, grocery stores, gift shops and others that benefit from tourism.
“It’s going to impact a whole economic picture that has not ever been disclosed to any of us,” Donahue said.
After two public hearings, Boulder County Commissioners on Thursday will vote on two separate items: land use code text amendments related to short-term dwelling rentals and bed and breakfasts as well as a new ordinance for licensing short-term and vacation rentals in the unincorporated area of Boulder County.
If approved, the regulations would, among other things, make the process for obtaining a short-term rental license more challenging, dictate operating requirements and ramp up enforcement, potentially through a third-party company such as Host Compliance, which helps municipalities implement and enforce “fair and effective short-term rental rules,” according to its website.
County planning staff recommends approval of both pieces.
Senior Planner Jasmine Rodenburg said the process began in 2019, in part because of complaints from neighbors. Some of the comments available in the public record indicate concerns about increased fire risk, the lack of “urban services” such as medical facilities and non-resident owners who aren’t around to supervise.
Catherine Monahan, who lives in unincorporated Boulder County outside Nederland, wrote in an October 2019 email to the county that short-term rentals “disintegrate a community.”
“In my mountain area, neighbors rely on each other,” Monahan wrote, adding that the dynamic changes as houses are sold to people who do not live in the area.
Additionally, the short-term rental market has increased drastically over the past decade, Rodenburg said.
“Our old regulations were implemented in 2008. Over the past 12 years, short-term rentals have really taken off as a means to travel,” she said.
Through research for the updated regulations, Rodenburg said the county has discovered hundreds of properties that are operating short-term rentals without going through the proper process.
The county also worries about the effect of short-term rentals on Boulder’s housing stock and affordability. There have been some studies, such as a 2016 one conducted by Harvard Law & Policy Review, that suggest Airbnb reduces the affordable housing supply by distorting the housing market.
However, Donahue and other opponents argue circumstances in unincorporated Boulder County are much different than in Los Angeles, where the Harvard Law & Policy Review study focused. In small mountain communities, many short-term rentals are used by families, often ones who come back annually and get to know the property owners, Donahue said.
Ilona Dotterer, a property owner in Allenspark, would like to operate a short-term rental but said the new regulations, if passed, might keep her from doing so.
“Everyone’s in the same position. They can’t meet these kind of outrageous enforcement regulations that they’re trying to put on all of us,” Dotterer said.
“By doing that, you are harming the people in the mountains,” she added. “These people depend on this rental income to pay their taxes, pay their insurance, and more importantly, make upgrades to the properties, maintain the properties.”
Rodenburg said the county gave a lot of thought to the benefits outlined by some property owners, including the fact that short-term rentals bring people in to Boulder County and help property owners supplement home costs or prepare for retirement. Rodenburg said the county worked to strike a balance in the regulations keeping that in mind.
An as example of that balance, she referenced the less stringent process for those renting space in their primary residence. They have to obtain a license but do not have go through the lengthier review process with a public hearing that would be required of a “vacation rental.” The county defines a vacation rental as one that isn’t someone’s primary residence and will be rented more than 60 nights over a year.
If you go
What: Boulder County Commissioners hearing
When: 9 a.m. Dec. 3
Where: The meeting will be conducted virtually. Find out more or register online at www.bouldercounty.org/property-and-land/land-use/planning/land-use-code-update/dc-19-0005/.
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Boulder County to vote on new short-term rental regulations - Boulder Daily Camera
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