The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Only one complaint filed in 2024
By Mark Reaman
People holding short-term rental (STR) licenses in Crested Butte must renew them in October. There are 198 so-called “unlimited” licenses allowed in town and this past year 189 such licenses were active. Unlimited license holders must rent their properties at least 29 nights in a calendar year.
A constraint on issuing unlimited licenses is the concentration of such licenses by block face. While those with current licenses are permitted to keep them, new licenses cannot be issued if two or more licenses are already active on a particular side of a town block face. This means no more than two STRs are allowed on a block’s frontage facing an avenue unless more licenses are “grandfathered” in. For example, there can be no more than four STRs facing Maroon Avenue, between Fourth and Fifth Streets. The north and the south sides of Maroon Avenue each would be allowed two STRs.
Crested Butte also allows an unlimited number of so-called “primary” STR licenses for people living in their homes for at least six months of the year, and those licenses limit rentals to no more than 90 nights a year.
In a memo to the council earlier this month, town clerk Lynelle Stanford said 11 holders of unlimited licenses were granted a waiver from fulfilling the minimum 29-day rental requirement. The reasons stated include that the properties are being long-term rented, there is an active building permit on the property, the owner is continuing to be a member of the local workforce or the owner is experiencing extraordinary life circumstances. All those granted waivers must provide documentation to continue their waiver into 2025.
Stanford said in the past year only one complaint, a complaint for noise, was filed with the town over a STR. She emphasized that such complaints should be made immediately to the marshal’s office at the time of the issue so they can engage with the possible offender. Under town regulations if a STR property is found guilty of three transgressions (three strikes), the license will be revoked and the owner banned from holding a STR license for two years.
In 2024, 189 unlimited STR licenses were issued and 18 primary licenses issued. Unlimited licenses cost $800 a year while primary licenses are just $250. Nine more unlimited licenses are allowed but they would have to fit into blocks where STRs are still available. If that is an option, town would hold a lottery to determine who gets the license if there are more than nine new applications.
The window to renew or apply for a new STR vacation rental license is October 1 through October 31.
