Woodland Park City Council approves amendments to short-term rentals ordinance; public hearing to come
The Oct. 3 Woodland Park City Council meeting started with a 2023 budget work session during which council members made a few small suggestions. The 2023 budget ordinance will be ready for initial posting on Nov. 17.
Once the regular meeting started, there was only one subject on everyone’s mind — short-term rentals. The meeting with a deceptively short agenda turned into a marathon as councilmembers approved several often-conflicting amendments and more than 20 people signed up to speak for or against the ordinance.
City Planning Director Karen Schminke went over the ordinance that was tabled for first reading at the Oct. 20 meeting.
After her recap, Councilman Rusty Neal made a motion to approve the ordinance with a long list of amendments using legal language he received from City Attorney Geoff Wilson. Mayor Pro Tem Kellie Case seconded his motion and amendments.
After Neal added his amendments, other councilmembers made their own sub-amendments, each of which had to be approved for addition to Neal’s motion.
Councilmembers proposed and approved the following sub-amendments:
Allow all non-owner occupied STRs already licensed in residential zones to continue in operation until the building is sold, the owner decides not the renew the license or it is revoked. These would be legacy licenses.
Remove caps and distance requirements for all non-owner occupied STRs already authorized in any zone. Caps would only apply to single-family and planned unit development zones.
Allow owner-occupied STRs in all zones where the owner resides without caps and distance restrictions.
Deciding whether a residence is owner-occupied is already part of the ordinance. “Owner-occupied” will be based on Primary Residence documents such as tax rolls, drivers’ licenses, Colorado identification cards, and voter registrations.
Also in the existing ordinance — owner-occupied STRs will not require business licenses, but will be taxed as lodging.
After these sub-amendments were approved for addition to Neal’s motion, he made one more amendment — to make STRs a permitted use in single-family zones and PUDs (planned urban developments).
His motion was approved by a vote of 4-3.
When Councilman Robert Zuluaga noted that council just approved an ordinance for public hearing that contains conflicting amendments, Wilson said council will have to resolve the conflicts at the hearing.
Once Neal’s motion was approved, Councilmen David Ott and Zuluaga went over definitions in the city codes to show that STRs should be defined by use and that the city should never have issued STR business licenses. Zuluaga also suggested the city refund all the tax funds it has collected from “illegal STRs.” This idea didn’t gain traction.
Mayor Hilary LaBarre allowed public comment and limited speakers to three minutes. Some spoke in favor of the ordinance, especially approving the concept of legacy licenses.
Others wanted to kill the ordinance and ban STRs entirely.
Frances Sinel renewed her request that Neal, LaBarre and Case recuse themselves for conflicts of interest.
Former Councilwoman Stephanie Alfieri, who was in the audience, agreed the three should recuse themselves. “(Frances) Marie Sinel and I agree on almost nothing, but we agree on this,” she said.
LaBarre said she has no conflict of interest — her father-in-law Pete LaBarre doesn’t own any STRs, she doesn’t own any and she doesn’t have any clients who do.
“I have an office in the Keller Williams Building but I don’t work for or with Kellie selling real estate,” she said. “I work only for myself.”
Neal said he withdrew his STR license request and has no intention of renting his home out as an STR. “My wife and I will reside in our home until we sell it,” he said.
There were a few voices advocating compromise and finding middle ground.
Jeremy Lyons said STRs should be treated the same as long-term rentals. “The difference is only one day,” he said. “If it’s rented for up to 30 days, it’s a short-term rental. If it’s rented for 31 days or longer, it’s a long-term rental.”
“We don’t want to destroy the livelihoods of our STR-owning friends who have relied on licenses issued by the city,” former Woodland Park Planning Commissioner Jerry Penland said. “Some say to ban all STRs, others say anything goes but you have lots of common ideas. …You’ve made a great start. You can find compromise. You can give us back our neighborhoods over time.
“Conflict of interest decisions are personal — you have to live with the consequences,” Mike Nakai said. “Don’t let this tear you apart. Please don’t return to the days when every meeting was a cat fight. You need to find middle ground.”
He said STR licenses should never have been issued and that the city should have followed its own laws — when a table says that a use not listed is a use not permitted.
An ordinance on initial posting that would have extended the STR moratorium into the new year was tabled to give Wilson time to research a question about renewing STR licenses.
“(All) business licenses expire on Dec. 31,” Case said. “If you extend the moratorium, are you also extending the license renewals? Do the licenses continue until we decide what to do or do they renew?”
Wilson said there is still time for him to research the question and get the ordinance through the two-meeting public process before the moratorium expires on Dec. 15.
Woodland Park City Hall, 220 W. South Ave., is pictured in this 2021 file photo.
Jerry Penland sets a moderate tone during public comment on the short-term rentals ordinance at the Nov. 3 Woodland Park City Council meeting.