Mt. CB updating short-term rental occupancy requirements

Limiting number of separate reservations at one time

by Kendra Walker

The Mt. Crested Butte town council is refining some of the town’s short-term rental (STR) licensing requirements to limit unit occupancy based on the number of bedrooms and number of unrelated reservations at any given time. During their June 16 meeting, the council approved the first reading of an ordinance and plans to review the second reading with a public hearing on July 21.

The updated ordinance calculates an STR unit’s total occupancy at a rate of two guests per bedroom plus an additional two guests. So an STR’s total occupancy is limited to no more than two people per bedroom plus an additional two people. “For example, a two-bedroom unit would have a maximum occupancy of six people, and a three-bedroom can only now sleep eight people,” explained town clerk Tiffany O’Connell. “They’re going to have to limit their occupancy and clearly state on their online advertisements how many people the home sleeps.”

Additionally, the ordinance limits the number of unrelated reservations and a short-term rental to no more than two parties. “By renting to all these individual parties, you’re crossing from a traditional short-term rental into a commercial hotel that needs to be regulated differently,” she said. “So if I’ve got a three-bedroom house, I can’t rent one bedroom to one party, a second bedroom to a completely separate reservation and a third bedroom to a completely separate third unrelated party.”

O’Connell explained that the changes will meet egress requirements in the updated fire codes, as well as help prevent larger houses from running like hotels instead of STR rentals. “By limiting the number of people in any unit, it’ll make it easier for them to evacuate in case of a fire, etc.” she said.

Town manager Carlos Velado added that occupancy and multiple separate groups also bring other challenges, such as parking.

The council will revisit the ordinance for final adoption following a public hearing on July 21.

The council had also previously expressed interest in establishing a reduced short-term rental fee for primary residences to help alleviate costs for locals who only rent occasionally. O’Connell explained that reducing a primary residence fee would most likely increase staff time and town costs.

“What you can do is say, if you rent your house for less than 30 days a year, then they could qualify. We’d probably be getting affidavits and monitoring their listings more to ensure that they’re not doing more than 30 nights. And we would have to create another workflow in our system,” said O’Connell.

The council agreed to discuss the topic further at a future meeting.