The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Chad wants guacamole!
By Mark Reaman
While their interest was piqued by the idea of perhaps letting residents of deed-restricted units in town short-term rent their abodes on a limited basis, the Crested Butte town council agreed it wasn’t a priority and should be put near the bottom of the priority list.
The idea came to them from resident Chad Reich who lives in the affordable housing Poverty Gulch subdivision.
“I believe short-term rentals have turned Crested Butte into a commodity,” he said during the September 3 council meeting. “That probably won’t change. It is expensive to live here. Everything is pricier. Burritos are expensive. It’s the evolution of the community, but I still go to Teo Tamale. I just don’t get the guacamole. I live in affordable housing and am grateful to live there but I am asking the town to consider letting residents of affordable housing to short-term rent their units on a limited basis. I believe you are looking at rewriting the affordable housing rules and it would be a good time to consider the idea.”
Reich suggested allowing rentals in such units for two to four months with no consecutive weeks being allowed. He said all the STR fees in place for market rate houses should apply to the deed-restricted units.
“Those of us living in deed-restricted housing leave for vacation or to go see our families and we are leaving empty rooms,” he said. “These wouldn’t be competing with the fancy STRs in town and the money received from renters would actually stay with locals who spend their money in Crested Butte instead of going out of town or out of state to Oklahoma City. I see benefits to the town and the low-income residents without a great deal of harm. It wouldn’t be an investment property, but I just want to be able to afford guacamole.”
At the end of the council meeting, the council and staff briefly discussed the idea.
“It’s not as straightforward as it looks,” said town attorney Karl Hanlon. “It’s not undoable but it’s not simple.”
“I like to give people some flexibility,” said mayor Ian Billick.
“I’m not inclined to support that change,” said councilmember Kent Cowherd who lives in a deed-restricted house. “It’s publicly subsidized housing and everyone in such a unit knew what they signed on for.”
“There are some policy issues to consider,” said town manager Dara MacDonald. “The units are subsidized with public dollars and many of the deed-restricted units are in neighborhoods like Paradise Park where the neighbors don’t have to worry about the problems and issues that come with vacation rentals.”
“I’d be willing to look at it again,” said councilmember Gabi Prochaska. “But it’s not a priority for me at the moment.”
That seemed to be the feeling of the rest of the council.
“Let’s put it in the hopper of ideas for the future. Is everyone comfortable with that level of ambiguity?” Billick asked the council members.
They were.
