In the past year and a half, short-term rental restrictions have been instituted in 4 jurisdictions in Summit County: Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne and Summit County Unincorporated areas (aka, properties not within a town’s limits). Only Dillon and Blue River have continued to allow STR licenses to be issued without caps on the number of total licenses. I have written a lot about this and have posted videos to my YouTube channel.
Currently, two groups are fundraising to bring legal action against Breckenridge and Summit County. I’ll give my editorial in a minute, but this is the first step in being able to bring lawsuits against these government entities. Without funds, there can be no lawsuits.
Breckenridge
Colorado Property Owners for Property Rights is a non-profit formed to fundraise and then bring legal action to invalidate Breckenridge’s STR ordinances. Everything you need to know about their organization and plan can be found on their website. The goal is to raise $750,000 to bring the suit in late Summer or Fall of 2023. COPR (for short) is currently taking donations on their website and through GoFundMe.
Also attached here is a letter that is being sent to Breckenridge homeowners.
Summit County
The organization, Summit County Resort Homes Inc., has formed to fundraise and bring legal action against the Summit County government and BOCC. Here is a document where I pasted an email from Rich Mason, who is a board member for this organization. Summit County Resort Homes, Inc. has a Google doc where parties can post a financial pledge to support this organization.
My two cents
I promised you an editorial! 🙂
Government leaders, even with the best intentions, can make rules that strip away property rights, decrease the value of properties, hinder tourism, decrease local business, and turn prospective buyers away. In order to fight back, it takes months of organization, grass roots efforts and a lot of money to hire attorneys and use the only forum left to fight: court. And that is what we finally see happening here in Summit County. Among my colleagues in the real estate industry, I have heard them say repeatedly, “Someone needs to do something about this.” It’s taken a while, and it’s not easy. Litigation attorneys (I’m a former one!) don’t work for free, and fundraising is the only way to get these legal challenges off the ground. If you, or someone you know, has been affected by STR restrictions, please send them this blog article and ask for their financial support.