The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Trying to stay ahead of the 2017 rental season
By Mark Reaman
The Crested Butte Town Council will hold a special meeting on Monday, September 26 to go over recommendations and possible action dealing with short-term rentals (STRs) in town. The recommendations will come from the special citizens’ committee that spent last summer discussing short-term rental regulations.
The air to address STRs seemed to come out of the balloon after the council did not support a staff recommendation to put a moratorium on issuing new licenses for STRs in August. Since then, approximately 80 people have applied for such business licenses in town, bringing the potential total of STRs in town to about 250.
Councilman Jim Schmidt, a member of the committee, said he felt the momentum needed to be rekindled. “I think it is more important than the potential Cypress annexation, for example,” he said. “The committee met eight times last summer and they want to make a presentation to council. I strongly suggest we hold a special meeting on the topic. I think it is really important.”
“There is a lot of material there,” explained Crested Butte building and zoning director Bob Gillie. “The council will have some decision points on what to pursue. We need to have a discussion soon to stay ahead of the 2017 licensing season.”
Some early recommendations ranged from putting a cap on the number of STRs that would be allowed in various parts of town to hiring an employee to inspect rental properties to make sure they were up to code.
The council agreed to set a special meeting on the topic for Monday, September 26 at 6 p.m.
