Dillon Town Council met in work session on the evening of October 5, 2021.
At the meeting last week, they decided not to implement a moratorium but rather to dedicate an hour at every upcoming meeting to discuss short term rental policy options and get public input.
Applications for new licenses has slowed down in the past week. Following staff presentation and public input, Council did give staff direction to draft ordinance changes to 1. Take the STR fee from $50 to $250, 2. Put in an occupancy limit of 2 per bedroom plus 2, and 3. Support additional questions on the application (noted below/to mirror Frisco’s application).
Agenda for tonight - fees, occupancy and application changes
Oct 19 - Fines, parking, parking fees, inspection
Nov 2 – discussion of if a cap is appropriate for Dillon
Nov 16 – excise tax for lodging
There were 3 members of the public who provided comment.
Staff document: https://www.dillonco.gov/home/showdocument?id=18632&t=637685192682703859
Fees
Right now, Dillon’s fee is $50 and not covering their costs. The memo outlines other communities approach on fees. Staff proposing a $250 annual fee.
Councilman Bailey does own and operate short term rentals and long term rentals in the Town of Dillon. Council’s attorney indicates that Councilman Bailey does not need to recuse himself, as the policy change would apply to all.
Councilman Hendricks also has a short term rental license, though he is not currently renting it (he hopes to rent a room or two in his basement in the future).
Tiered approach seems more complicated - Council is fine with $250 flat fee. Effective January 1, 2022.
Occupancy
Right now, Dillon does not have any occupancy limits. Others in the county all have some type of limit. This could help bring some consistency with other neighboring communities, and reduce potential noise complaints.
Staff proposing a maximum of 2 persons per bedroom plus 2 (matches Silverthorne’s regulation). There was quite a bit of discussion about whether the number should be 2 per bedroom plus 2 or 2 per bedroom plus 4.
Application Changes
Staff is proposing to add the following questions: renting the whole unit or portion of the unit, # of bedrooms, #of bathrooms, # of expected rental nights and average nightly rental rate. These questions are on Frisco’s application, and it seems like it would be beneficial information to have.
Mayor Skowyra suggested optional questions to gauge what it would take to get owners to consider converting to LTR. Staff suggests sending a survey out to STR license holders this winter separate from the application.
Public comment
Diane – are fees for a rental company or per unit? Per unit.
The federal Dept. of Housing recommends an occupancy limit of 2 ppl per bedroom.
Their condo HOA says 2 per bedroom plus 2, and she thinks it’s too many. It leads to a lot of noise. Glad that Dillon is looking at STRs and the problems its creating for people who live here. She does currently STR her unit 6 months of the year. If Dillon doesn’t cap it or slow the progression, we are going to turn our community in to a huge hotel. Having HOAs do this 1:1 is pitting all of these neighbors in a building against one another – we are asking Council to take it up and make it consistent.
Council asks Diane what it would take for her to convert STR to LTR. She said she would like to rent to a seasonal worker in the winter, but she makes a lot more money doing STR than LTR. There is a dollar incentive that would make sense for her.
A second individual spoke up, and just pointed out that there are owners that want to be able to come up and use their unit in between rentals.
Barb – occupancy is her issue.
Lake Dillon Condos (condo-tels) – 2 queen beds in a room. Normal occupancy is 6 for a one bedroom. Usually have parents, grandparents and two kids – 2 per bedroom plus 2 wouldn’t be enough here. They think it should be equal to what a hotel could hold – 4 people per bedroom plus 2 on the pull out couch.
Councilman Bailey said he does know from experience that Lake Dillon Condos are very large units.
Diane – is there a fire code limitation? Staff – the County allows 2 per bedroom plus 2, so fire code must allow at least that many.
Councilman Milroy – how do we enforce it? It would be complaints and could do random checks of listings to see that the advertisement matches what is allowed under the license. Could also require owners to post the occupancy. Staff says that the occupancy would be printed on the license.
