August has been a busy month for short term rental regulations and discussions in mountain towns.

In Summit County, the Summit County Government, Town of Frisco, and Town of Breckenridge all had short term rental discussions.

Breckenridge
The short-term rental ordinance was passed unanimously. The ordinance goes into effect on September 27th, 2022. At that time, there will be 349 STR licenses in zone 1 available. As of August 12th, there were 59 owners in zone 1 on the waiting list for permits. Their permit applications will be processed first. That means there could be as many as 299 new permits available on September 27th.
The link to the entire ordinance is here: https://www.townofbreckenridge.com/home/showpublisheddocument/22011/637964413604730000
Frisco
Council listened to an extensive staff report with feedback and data from local REALTORS® and SAR, Property Managers, and Frisco business owners. The Council decided to stick with their original 22% cap on STRs within the town. That leaves 2% room for growth from their current 20% permits. The Council did agree to allow locals a separate “exempt” license that will not fall under the 22% cap. Permanent Frisco residents would be permitted to short-term rent their homes while they are away. If approved, the town would have 792 short-term rentals in a town of 3,600 units. The ordinance will be drafted and presented at the new Town Council meeting on September 13th. The decision to move forward with an ordinance to cap short-term rentals was not unanimous as it has been in Breckenridge. Council member Andy Held opposed moving forward with a cap because he felt the short-term rentals don’t significantly impact housing.
Link to Frisco Statement on STR discussion: https://www.friscogov.com/catchup-with-council/catchup-with-council-august-23-2022-meeting/

Summit County
The County Commissioners received a one-hour update on short-term rental regulatory options. They agreed there should be caps on short-term rentals but could not agree on the best path forward on how to place or limit caps. The Commissioners would like more information and data. The Commissioners have several months before the moratorium expires to find a new solution for short-term rentals and expect to hold several work sessions.

Avon

In Eagle County, Avon’s town council passed what they hope to be the last short term rental ordinance, in a 6-1 vote during their meeting on 8/23. Current STR holders will keep their licenses “until abandonment of the Short Term Rental use, change in ownership, or revocation of the Short Term Rental license.”

The council created a new map that defines the “town core” and the STR overlay zones, both within and outside of the town core. Furthermore, Avon now has three types of STR licenses:

• STR-F: Short-term rental full license, an “unlimited” short-term rental license
• STR-RO: Short-term rental resident occupied license, a property occupied and short-term rented by a full-time resident living on-site
• STR-L: Short-term rental limited licensee, a property that is used as a short-term rental for fewer than 42-days per year 

For properties that are within the short term overlay district within the town core, there’s no cap/limits on any of the three license types.

Properties that are outside of the town core, but within STR overlay zone, there’s a 15% cap on STR-F licenses, but no restrictions on STR-RO and STR-L licenses.

For more information, including the new map, please click here.