How many are too many?

Saratoga, like many other municipalities in the mountain west, has struggled with a lack of housing inventory both during and after the pandemic.

As of October, there were a total of 8 residential properties on the market in Saratoga’s municipal limits, according to the Wyoming MLS website. Of those, they ranged in price from $260,000 to $725,000. Seemingly adding to this issue are the number of active short-term rentals in the area, an issue also being faced by mountain west towns.

The Saratoga Planning Commission—though still in the very early stages—is looking at potential regulations of short term rentals, or STRs, within town limits. A discussion on those regulations took place during the September 12 meeting of the planning commission.

Very Rough Draft

The discussion was begun by Saratoga resident Chris “Chilly” Rollison, who asked the commission the catalyst behind them considering regulations on STRs. Chairperson McCall Burau told Rollison that the commission had been approached by community members in the summer of 2022 asking what, if anything, the Town of Saratoga planned to do regarding short term rentals in the area.

“We created a rough draft of a permit using some resources we found online and the Dubois permit,” said Burau.

Last year, the Town of Dubois passed an ordinance regulating short term lodging units under its existing code for business licensing and regulation. Among other things, the code now requires a special use permit for each residence rented separately with a limit of 25 permits for STRs, or approximately 4% of the current number of houses in Dubois.

Short term rentals are also required by the code to register as a lodging facility with the Wyoming Department of Revenue and pay the required lodging tax. A copy of the Wyoming Sales and Use Tax License must be included with the special use permit application.

Additionally, the code dictates that a permit—which costs the application $200—cannot be transferred if the property is transferred or sold to a new owner.

At the moment, Burau said, the draft of the permit is in the hands of the Town of Saratoga’s legal counsel, Kylie Waldrip.

“We sent that off to the attorney for her to send back any large, red flags that she sees before we go any further down this process,” said Burau.

Legal Challenges

Looking for those red flags may be wise on the part of the planning commission. Earlier this year, it was reported by The Colorado Sun that 101 homeowners in Summit County had filed a suit against the Summit County Commissioners over new STR regulations. According to the original reporting, the regulations came after several years of increased permitting and requirements which required homeowners to follow rules around noise, trash and tax collection.

Additionally, the Summit County Commissioners had rezoned areas which identified neighborhoods where STRs would be restricted and focused them in zones closer to ski areas and the downtown areas of resort towns. In fall 2021, the Summit County Commissioners had instituted a 135 night limit on short term rentals in neighborhood zones.

Then, in 2022, they had placed a moratorium on new STR licenses before capping licenses earlier this year at a level lower than the number of existing permits. The most recent regulations limit STRs owned by nonresidents in neighborhood zones to 35 bookings a year.

According to Burau, there is consideration of allowing only local residents to be able to operate short term rentals within town limits.

“The way it’s written right now, you have to be a Saratoga resident to get a permit,” said Burau. “There is not a limit to the number a single person—a single resident—can have. They can be as entrepreneurial as they want.”

Last year, the Town of Jackson, Wyoming tried to find ways to curtail their own issues with short term rentals. As of the date of the article (“Jackson’s short-term rental rules deemed ‘unworkable’, September 21, 2022, Jackson Hole News & Guide), a number of options proposed by town staff came with their downsides. Looking at Wyoming residency, for example, had legal concerns while putting local employees as a higher priority left out retirees who were on fixed incomes. Meanwhile, it would be difficult to regulate proof of whether a property was a primary residence or a second home.

As of October, according to the website AirDNA, Jackson had 646 active short term rentals listed on AirBNB and VRBO. The Saratoga area, which included parts of unincorporated Carbon County, had 71 active rentals, or 7.6% of the total housing in Saratoga, while just three years before there were less than 25.

Fires and Tidal Waves

Bo Stocks, owner of Octagon Construction Group, told the planning commission he owned three properties he rented to employees during the week and listed as short term rentals on the weekends. Under the proposed draft permit, Stocks would not be allowed to operate a short term rental.

“ I’m not a resident and I’m the largest landowner in the town of Saratoga. How does that affect me?” said Stocks. “It’s a pretty small town, we have a lot of fires. Why are we starting this one? There’s a lot of problems that we need to get cleaned up and putting a lot of energy into this I don’t think is a huge thing.”

Burau disagreed with Stocks, saying one of the main motivations behind addressing short term rentals was the lack of affordable housing in Saratoga.

“A majority of affordable houses that go on the market seem to be purchased and flipped into short term rentals,” said Burau. “I think that has caused a lot of grumblings and concerns from the community.”

Rollison said there had long been concerns in the community of the potential growth of Saratoga, making comparisons to Jackson, Wyoming and Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

“If we have too many short term rentals not only are we looking at a housing problem but it could have dramatic effects later on down the line,” said Rollison. “We’re getting so much tourism that we’re actually creating a tidal wave of it. If you’re creating more short term rentals, then you’re also creating the opportunity for more tourists to come and then that’s going to just make the tidal wave even larger.”

Balancing Act

Burau said the pursuit of any regulations of short term rentals in Saratoga was going to have to be a balancing act. While there was the goal of ensuring there were enough beds for residents, and especially employees, there also had to be enough beds for visitors to Saratoga and the Platte Valley. There was also, said Burau, the matter of land use.

She explained, under her reading of the code, it was illegal to operate short term rentals in Saratoga as they aren’t mentioned in the municipal code. Indeed, under the municipal code there isn’t any language regarding short term rentals nor is there language related to the long term rental of single-family residences. Regulations for residential zones RD9000, RD9002, rural residential districts and RD14000 allow the renting of a portion of a single family home only with a special use permit.

Another concern, this one expressed by planning commission member Nancy Ford, was the transient nature of short term rentals. According to Ford, her concern was that too many STRs would effectively destroy some neighborhoods. Rather than there being long-term family and non-family households, there would be vacant houses between bookings.

Concerns of the public and planning commission aside, the draft permit is still in the hands of Waldrip as the Town of Saratoga awaits a legal determination one way or the other.