Pitkin County’s study on its short-term rental system revealed the local government has been incredibly effective at limiting temporary lodgings.
Local property owners operate 73 short-term rentals in unincorporated Pitkin County, compared to over 2,300 in the City of Aspen and Snowmass Village, or about 4,200 in Breckenridge.
But as commissioners consider changing the county’s regulations, they’re discussing how to balance community priorities with the realities of building a flexible and realistic short-term rental system.
At a work session Tuesday, commissioners heard a presentation from Economic & Planning Systems, Inc., which authored the study and provided recommendations.
“The current standards effectively limit the growth in STRs, because it requires a prior rental history from 2017 to 2022,” said Andrew Knudtsen, a planner and economist with EPS. “That's an important part of the context.”
Unlike many other counties surrounding Colorado’s resort communities, Pitkin County doesn’t have a dedicated lodging tax. But guests spent $14.3 million in bookings annually on short-term rentals, a significant economic boon for the region.
“That is on the lodging itself,” Knudtsen said. “It does not include all of the dollars spent in the community, in recreation, in guides, in retail, in restaurants — what have you.”
It’s been four years since Pitkin County passed its short-term rental regulations, and since then, residents have not noticed significant impacts in their neighborhoods.
“When we began this study, we really expected to hear a lot of pushback — a lot of concern that STRs are ruining the neighborhood, STRs are really causing a lot of disruption. That's actually not something that we heard a lot of,” said Karlyn Russell-Carlson, also with EPS.
“In the survey data, 51% of people reported that they didn't notice STR activity in the county, and when asked about their specific neighborhood, only 18% of people said that they notice it.”
Short-term rental bookings in Pitkin County are most expensive in the summer and cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars a night to $60,000 per night. They’re concentrated in the county’s urban growth boundary and along Highway 82.
Short-term rentals aren’t permitted in most rural and remote areas of Pitkin County, a policy the study authors recommend continuing.
But they recommended some other changes, including passing a lodging tax — revenues from which would be put toward housing in Pitkin County — and removing the current requirement that short-term rental operators have a history of renting their properties between 2017 and 2022.
“As the county evolves, that historical requirement is just not going to allow for much of a dynamic program,” Knudtsen said. “That is an effective tool that has been working in the recent past. Will it work that well over time? And how do we accommodate a changing market, knowing that the overall number should stay essentially the same?”
Study authors also recommended an overhaul of the county’s short-term rental license system.
Pitkin County’s current system is divided into three categories: seasonal, seasonal limited and otherwise limited.
Under the proposed changes, Pitkin County would keep the three categories, with updated requirements.
The proposed Type One license would be open to any property owner for a maximum of 120 nights per year. Licenses would be capped geographically, rather than by rental history.
The proposed Type Two license would be a low-intensity, low-barrier license for community members to rent their property for short periods, like over the holidays.
And a third type of license would codify unique short-term rental regulations that are in place in Redstone.
Additional regulations would ensure county staff consider utilities, like wells or septic systems, when looking at short-term rental applications, taking into account how those rentals could impact neighbors. Study authors said other community concerns, like traffic impacts, are less of an issue.
“On the top end, STRs contribute about 1% of daily traffic on Highway 82, which is a very small amount,” said Russell-Carlson.
At Tuesday’s work session, Pitkin County commissioners bristled at the idea of a lodging tax and expressed concern about decoupling short-term rental licenses from the previous rental history restrictions.
But they also showed interest in expanding the program, especially for important community events or programs, like the Aspen Music Festival & School or Aspen Ideas Festival.
Commissioner Jeffrey Woodruff pointed out that Pitkin County vacancy rates can reach more than a third of homes in the area.
“We have this asset; it's being underutilized,” he said. “There is an opportunity, for example, to pay for your property taxes through rental income, but in exchange we can house physicists, we can house music students, we can house folks that are here for [the Aspen Ideas Festival].”
Commissioners will continue to discuss short-term rental regulation changes at future meetings, including a more detailed proposal from EPS for a short-term rental license lottery program to replace the current system.
