Colorado Springs Short Term Rental Regulation Update

[Robin Searle]

I wanted to give an update on what happened at the Colorado Springs Planning Commission meeting today. The new regulations were presented and then multiple people spoke both for and against it - those against basically wanted to see it tweaked but weren't against the overall regulation. Several people spoke against STR's in general and some really are pushing for STR's to be ONLY allowed in a person's primary residence similar to Denver. Others want the number of permits to be limited like Manitou Springs. When it came to the vote, three of the six commissioners felt so strongly that STR's would change the face of neighborhoods that they said they too want it to be limited to only an owner's primary residence. The other three commissioners liked the ordinance as it was presented so the six commissioner's vote resulted in a tie.

The ordinance now moves on to the City Council with a neutral recommendation from the planning commission (due to the tied vote). I'm not sure if it'll be on the September or October City Council Agenda but will update as soon as we know. I believe we are in real danger of being overly regulated like Denver which will shut many investors and STR owners down so I'm asking any stake holder to keep an eye out and plan to attend the council meeting when it's announced and speak in favor of STR's. The planning commission seemed to give a LOT of weight to those who spoke so it's important that we have a large turnout when it comes to the city council. Many of us have significant investments so please speak up if this affects you!