In what is becoming my regular newsletter column, here is the monthly STR update.

Breckenridge

Breckenridge’s ordinance went into effect on September 27. We all knew that there weren’t any licenses available for Zones 2 and 3. But there were 357 licenses available for Zone 1. Would they all be spoken for the first day of the new ordinance? The answer is NO! There were 50 applications leaving around 300 licenses still available in Zone 1. Right now, if you are a buyer looking for a STR in Breck, there is a good chance that you can get a license if you purchase in Zone 1. I think that’s great news. For properties in Zone 2 and 3, your best chance of getting a license is to vote in a new Town Council to undo the current rules.

Summit County

Covering around ⅓ of all properties in Summit County, these units have had a license moratorium since May, excluding Keystone and Copper which have been deemed resort zones. We still don’t have any direction on what type of rules the county commissioners will be putting in place. Their plan is to have regulations done by February 2023. They are relying heavily on the feedback of a community survey where responses are showing that STR’s negatively impact the community. This survey is still open if you choose to participate. Unfortunately, this survey was not written by a professional research company so it is providing the negative feedback needed to support STR restrictions, which is the direction the county staff and commissioners are headed. Take the survey for yourself and let me know if you think the survey is biased. The county is also ignoring an earlier survey from the community where most respondents thought that STR’s brought positive attributes to our community.

The county does have a website where is it providing updated information on its progress and links to meetings. If you would like to give feedback, please do so! The commissioners are looking for feedback, and we all know that doing nothing doesn’t make a change!

Frisco

On September 27, the Frisco Town council passed the first reading of their new ordinance limiting the number of STR licenses in Frisco to 25% of the housing stock. This ordinance will have its second reading on October 11 and take effect in November after a 30 day “curing” process. This leaves 95 licenses available. Unlike Summit County and Breckenridge, Frisco did not put a moratorium on the issuance of licenses and are continuing to issue licenses during their decision making process. While I don’t think the 95 licenses are going to be issued immediately, I do think they will eventually get absorbed, and we may see a waitlist come into play. Here is the link to the meeting.

I have been heavily involved with the Frisco process, since I live in Frisco, and provided a lot of feedback to the Town Council. A couple things we (me and others in the real estate community) were able to get included into the new ordinance is that properties under contract prior to the rule taking effect could get a license, new construction contracts could get a license, and that licenses would not be relinquished when moving property into a LLC or Trust so long as the parties remained the same.

The Frisco Town Council did say that they were willing to watch this regulation and see how it plays out with an open mind to adjusting the rules if needed. Since so many people asked for a higher cap, which they didn’t adopt, any negative consequences to the 25% cap should be made known to them.

Silverthorne

Silverthorne held open houses on September 12, 2022 to get feedback on their proposal to cap STR licenses to 10% in most neighborhoods. The town core area would be capped at 50%. This would create an additional 400 STR permits, but those would be concentrated in the town core. Stay tuned for more on the Silverthorne decision as they haven’t proposed a formal ordinance.

Dillon

Dillon town council hasn’t made any official announcements on STR regulations, but they did decide on adding three ballot measures for the November ballot. Two measures will raise taxes on short term rentals and lodging. The third will allow for $20m in bonds to put toward workforce housing.

Blue River

I haven’t heard any news on Blue River, but my understanding is that they are not implementing any regulations, and instead monitoring the number of STR licenses they issue. If they hit a certain percentage of STR’s in the community, they will review the situation at that time.