Boulder County, Colorado streamlines STR regulation

[James Carlson]

For anyone who cares about STRs in Colorado, I just learned that Boulder County earlier this month passed new short-term rental regulations. 

I guess it's surprising to me that the law allows for true non-owner occupied vacation rentals. Seems like the tide of STR regulation in Colorado is in the direction of restriction not permission. But Boulder County's rules still allow for STRs. It's not actually a huge change from existing rules. Rather it's more a streamlining.

A few changes:

-- They will have caps on the number of STRs. They're splitting the county into a few different zones. The eastern plains area will ban STRs. The western mountainous area is split roughly north and south. The northern part will have roughly 150 licenses. The souther area will have less (as the county tries to maintain a healthy housing stock for workers who might commute from just outside of Boulder proper into the city.)

-- They also did away with one of the "types" of licenses. Under the old regulations, they had three different licenses. They now have two -- essentially, less-rented properties and those that are more full-time vacation rentals.

-- They also did away with the discretionary process. Under the old system, even if you met the criteria for a full-time STR, you had to apply and the county conducted a special-use review. (Kind of like how Jefferson County still does it.) Now, under the new rules, if you meet the criteria, you get a license.

Some things didn't change, such as the requirement that the property be on unplatted land, so that definitely restricts the number of eligible properties. 

I do wonder how quickly those 150-ish permits in the north will get snapped up.