If the Board of County Commissioners decides to regulate Short Term Rentals (STRs) in the unincorporated county, it won’t happen this year, since the County staff is focused on standing up a new health department by January 1st.
La Plata County hired a company to survey residents to determine whether STRs are a problem in the community and discovered that the topic didn’t make the list of the top concerns of those surveyed. Housing, traffic/overdevelopment, and homelessness were the top three issues noted by those surveyed. There is a perception and assumption among those surveyed that STRs impact the availability of housing, but as County Manager Chuck Stevens pointed out, it’s unclear whether that’s true. He suggested keeping an eye on Summit County, which is restricting STRs and is being sued in federal court.
Stevens said the county has a number of tools to deal with complaints about STRs, such as issues related to water, sewer, trash and parking in the right of way. The County may investigate creation of a noise ordinance when staff has the capacity to address it next year.
