Colorado Springs Hosts! WARNING - City proposes ordinance w/ potential negative consequences

[Liz275]

The City of Colorado Springs has proposed an ordinance which will regulate Airbnb hosting in COS. There are two clauses which I object to: 1) It would limit us to host one guest per 7 days. This would seriously affect my bottom line as a host, as I'm sure it would most hosts who allow shorter stays. 2) It would limit hosts to one approved Airbnb per parcel of property.

Please attend one or more of the following meetings and make your voice heard before the City enacts this law without meaningful input from stakeholders. List of meetings where it is being presented/discussed follow, along with portions of the proposed ordinance.

JUNE 13 - Presentation at CONO quarterly neighborhood group meeting- 5:30 pm Pikes Peak Library East 5550 N Union Blvd

Facebook Event Link

JUNE 14 - Presentation to OWN Board (Westside neighbors only) 6 pm - Westside Community Center

JUNE 21 - City Planning Commission Hearing  - 8:30 am City Hall

JULY 9 - Introduction at Council Work Session

JULY 24 - First Reading and Formal Hearing at City Council

AUGUST 14 - Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 

** Ordinance will give Short Term Rental Owners 90 days to come in for a permit.

Excerpts from the bill which concern me in bold below:

7.5.1704: SHORT TERM RENTAL UNIT PERMIT REVIEW CRITERIA:

The Manager may approve or condition and approve an application for a short term rental unit permit if the following criteria and specific regulations are met:

A. Sleeping quarters for short term tenants shall not be in non-residential areas within buildings or accessory structures (e.g. shed, garage, etc.) that do not contain finished living space; or in commercial (office/retail) or industrial (warehouse) spaces; or outdoors (e.g. tent, etc.); or in a recreational vehicle.

B. Limit one short term rental unit per building or property; or in the event of condominiums or buildings held in similar common ownership, each owner shall be limited to one unit per building or property. Entities under common control shall be considered a single owner for the purpose of evaluating ownership of units.

C. The owner shall obtain a sales tax license from the City's sales tax office.

D. The owner shall maintain weekly residential trash collection services. Outdoor trash bins shall be screened from public view or kept inside of a structure or garage.

E. Owner shall show proof of property liability insurance in the amount of not less than $500,000, or provide proof that property liability coverage in an equal or higher amount is provided by any and all hosting platforms through which the owner will rent the short term rental unit. Proof of liability insurance is not required if short term rental reservations are handled exclusively by hosting platforms (websites) that extend liability coverage of not less than $500,000 under terms acceptable to the Manager.

F. Short term rental units must remain compliant with all planning, zoning, building and other City codes.

G. The owner shall not have had a short term rental unit permit revoked within the preceding twenty-four (24) months.

7.5.1706: RULES AND REGULATIONS:

The following rules and shall be followed for every short term rental unit, and it shall be a violation of this part for the owner or short term tenants to fail to meet any of them:

A. All short term tenants shall abide by all applicable noise ordinances of the City of Colorado Springs and with all other City ordinances.

C. Parking in private driveways shall be utilized first with overflow parking on the street where permitted. Parking on-site in non-driveway areas (i.e. front yard areas, parkways and rear-yards) shall be prohibited.

C. No food shall be prepared for or served to the short term tenants by the owner orthe owner’s agents.

D. Use of the short term rental unit for any commercial or large social events or gatherings such as weddings, corporate retreats, concerts and fundraisers is prohibited.

E. The permit with all local contact information and emergency safety information should be prominently displayed within the short term rental unit.

1. The City issued permit number shall be used in all rental marketing materials.

2. No more than one (1) rental contract is permitted in a consecutive seven (7) day period.

H. During the term that a short term rental unit is occupied by a short term tenant, the owner and/or the local contact person designated by the owner shall be available twenty- four (24) hours per day, seven (7) days per week, for the purpose of responding within forty-five (45) minutes to complaints regarding the condition or operation of the short term rental unit or the conduct of short term tenants. If the local contact person designated by the owner changes, then the owner shall update the permit on file within 14 days.

[Pete28]

So many cities have come up with different combinations of laws.

The 7 day thing is plain weird - seems to limit you to max 52 rentals a year. One unit per building might also harm some multi unit hosts, but is helpful to the little guy.

Thankfully Seattle has been quite liberal - no limit on nights, max 2 units per host, no none compliant accommodation (tent, rv, boat etc). You could suggest that as a compromise.

[Liz275]

Yeah, the 7 day thing would be really hard to enforce and super hard to manage on our typical Airbnb calendar platform without having to decline lots of bookings. Which would in turn hurt our ratings. Hopeful we can make them understand it will drastically reduce their sales tax income from short term rentals.

[Estee-And-Rob0]

To further leverage my analogy, you cannot limit a farmer to farm only one day a week during the growing season. This is effectively what the 7 day rule does. Here in the Springs, our season is March-ish through October-ish. We break even through the winter, more or less. I must hit my occupancy targets during the 'growing season' or STR is not a solvent model.

The 7 day rule specifically targets dedicated STRs (like mine), but makes sense for everyone else. The rule allows STRs to serve as overflow housing capacity during special times of the year (read: AF Graduation, etc.) where the hotels would be booked anyway. Bottom line? The 7 day rule eliminates competition for hoteliers during the high season, and is beneficial to the city during events that max out the hotel capacity. 

[Caitlyn21]

Hi Liz, my name is Caiti Blase and I am a reporter at KOAA News 5. Our station would like to do a story on this proposed ordinance and we are looking for stakeholders to speak with. Would you be interested in doing an on-camera interview tomorrow to talk about your concerns? If so, please email me at cblase@koaa.com at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your time. 

[Ryan368]

The 7 day rule is specifically in there to help hotels. Someone is getting their pockets lined on that one. It makes no sense. It does nothing to resolve the perceived greviances of neighbors or HOAs. It only benefits the competitors of  STRs. Something stinks. 

[Liz275]

Completely agree. 

[Ryan368]

I've reposted your info here. Please consider joining our group page. I am looking to help get local hosts involved in having a shared voice when it comes to city council proposals like this.

https://www.facebook.com/COSSTRA/?hc_ref=ARQQ5WRYw--BAFjqnVen494ZGwHhfbRI-h9xTFA1rRQilL_k_il9OPcO-e3...

[Liz275]

Thanks Ryan!

[Chris1146]

"Ordinance will give Short Term Rental Owners 90 days to come in for a permit."

Is this when the new regulations actually begin? If not, when? 

[Liz275]

Yes it will be 90 days after it is voted on. 

[Jess69]

Does that mean I have to go in for a permit? Did it pass? 

[Ashley127]

Reach out to your local REALTOR association!! They are typically against any type of government interference when it comes to private property rights. 

And they have a huge advocacy voice because of their number of members. Reach out and they will help! 

Ask to speak to their local government affairs director or committee. They can help! 

[Estee-And-Rob0]

Ashley, thank you for this advice. I have called the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors (PPAR.com) this morning to let them know about the proposed ordinance.

I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE EVERYONE CONCERNED ABOUT THIS ORDINANCE TO CALL PPAR. We still have time, and we have a strong voice in this dialogue. The ordinance threatens property rights, and not to be hyperbolic here, but this threatens our future in many ways.

Please let PPAR/Monica know where you stand on this topic. PPAR #: 719.633.7718 

[Virginia217]

Thank you Estee.   I will call PPAR.   If they inforce the 7day rule it will hurt local businesses.  We pay taxes to the city and state.  They want less of that?   I will call and I will be at the next meeting.   Would letters from some of our guest help?