Short-term Rentals

Referendum Petition for Ordinance 1431, November 28 2022

On November 28, the City Clerk has received letters of intent to circulate a Referendum Petition for Ordinance No.1431, an ordinance establishing short-term rental regulations. As of November 28, 2022, Ordinance No. 1431, Series 2022 has been suspended from taking effect.

The Woodland Park City Clerk received nine letters of intent from residents interested in filing a Referendum Petition for Ordinance No.1431. A petition was received and certified by the City Clerk, and the petitioners can collect signatures. The petition must be filed with the City Clerk by December 27, 2022. To be deemed sufficient by the City Clerk, the petition must have 714 valid signatures, which equals 10% of the registered voters in the City of Woodland Park. If the Clerk deems the petition as sufficient the issue then goes to City Council. Council can then decide to either repeal the ordinance or to set it for election. If Council decides to set an election for the issue, they must set an election date for no sooner than 60 days and no later than 100 days after that meeting.

Referendum Petition for Ordinance 1432, December 12, 2022

On December 12, the City Clerk received a letter of intent to circulate a Referendum Petition for Ordinance No.1432, an ordinance extending the moratorium on short-term rentals. As of December 12, 2022, Ordinance No. 1432, Series 2022 has been suspended from taking effect.

The Woodland Park City Clerk received one letter of intent from a resident interested in filing a Referendum Petition for Ordinance No.1432. A petition was received and certified by the City Clerk, and the petitioners can collect signatures. The petition must be filed with the City Clerk by December January 13, 2023. To be deemed sufficient by the City Clerk, the petition must have 717 valid signatures, which equals 10% of the registered voters in the City of Woodland Park. If the Clerk deems the petition as sufficient the issue then goes to City Council. Council can then decide to either repeal the ordinance or to set it for election. If Council decides to set an election for the issue, they must set an election date for no sooner than 60 days and no later than 100 days after that meeting.

What is the Referendum process?

Referendum is a power reserved to the voters by petition to require an adopted ordinance be referred to them at an election, pursuant to the referendum power reserved by Article V, Section 1(9) of the State Constitution.

If you have specific questions about the referendum process, please contact City Clerk Suzanne Leclercq at sleclercq@city-woodlandpark.org

At the November 17, 2022 Regular City Council Meeting, Council voted to approve Ordinance #1431 as amended, an ordinance amending Titles 5 and 18 of the Woodland Park municipal code to license and regulate short-term rentals in Woodland Park.

View Amended Ordinance #1431(PDF)

We encourage you to read through the full ordinance, but have provided a short overview of it below.

Fundamentally, this ordinance will:

• Require all short-term rental owners to apply for and procure a Short-term Rental Business License. (See Section 2 of the ordinance.)
• Allow licensed short-term rentals to operate in the following zones (provided they meet the requirements outlined in ordinance): Suburban Residential, Urban Residential, Agricultural, Neighborhood Commercial, Community Commercial, Service Commercial, Central Business District, and Planned Unit Development. (See Section 5 of the ordinance.) If you aren't sure what zone your property is in, refer to the Zoning Map(PDF).
• Establish standards for short-term rentals, to include providing designated parking and occupancy limits of two (2) people per legal bedroom plus two (2) additional people. (See Section 6 of the ordinance.)
• Allow existing short-term rentals in the Multi-Family Residential Suburban and Multi-Family Residential Urban Zones and anyone who purchased property in these zone districts in 2022, prior to November 17, 2022 to apply for a Short-term Rental Business License. (See Section 7 of the ordinance.)
• Require short-term rental owners to have a designated local contact person to ensure compliance with rules included in the ordinance and Good Neighbor Guidelines established by the City. (See 5.22.020, under Section 2 of the ordinance.)
• Allow Short-term Rental Business Licenses to be suspended or revoked by the City Council, after conducting a public hearing, for reasons outlined in the municipal code. (See 5.22.040, under Section 2 of the ordinance.)

Please read Ordinance #1431 to understand the full scope of the ordinance.

What's Next?

• The moratorium on licenses for short-term rentals remains in effect until December 15. City Council will hear an ordinance to extend the moratorium at their upcoming December 1, 2022 Regular City Council meeting. The purpose of the moratorium extension would be to ensure a licensing structure and processes are in place to accept applications.
• Future review of STR regulations. Within this ordinance, Council has included a provision for a future review of the regulations. Section 9 of the ordinance states "Within twelve to eighteen months from the effective date of this Ordinance, the Planning Commission shall revisit the City’s short-term rental regulations. During that timeframe, the City shall direct an update to its most recent housing needs assessment, and shall have a short-term rental economic impact study conducted. Additionally, the City Police and Code Enforcement departments shall capture twelve months of data regarding calls for service or complaints of crime or nuisance at short-term rental unit properties. Once all data is collected and both studies have been completed, the Planning Commission will review and analyze same to make recommendations to City Council regarding whether amendments to the City’s short-term rental regulations are required."

We appreciate your patience as City staff work to implement the changes outlined in the ordinance. We will continue to provide updates via email and the City website. When the City is ready to accept short-term rental applications, we will publicize it widely.

On October 20, 2022 the City Council considered Ordinance #1431 on initial posting, which was the short-term rental ordinance recommended by the Planning Commission. Public comment was heard by Council on the ordinance, as well as the drafted preamendments included in the agenda packet for that meeting. You can watch the meeting on our Youtube page.

At the October 20 meeting, Council voted to table Ordinance #1431 and set the initial posting for this Thursday, November 3 City Council meeting. Council will hear public comment on Ordinance #1431 at this Thursday's meeting. As always, if you would like to speak at the meeting, please sign up for public comment online.

Also on the agenda is Ordinance #1432 on initial posting, which would extend the moratorium on new business licenses for short-term rentals until June 24, 2023.

View agenda packet for Nov 3 Council Meeting

Short-term Rentals Ordinance Initial Posting: Council Accepting Public Comment

City staff continues to receive many emails and calls in regards to the proposed amendments to the Short-term Rental Ordinance on initial posting. If you have reached out to a City staff member, please be patient and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

In an effort to ensure that members of the community can be heard to the greatest extent possible, Council has decided to accept public comment on initial posting for this specific topic at the City Council meeting on Thursday, October 20, 2022. Council will also accept public comment during the public hearing for this agenda item, scheduled for the November 3 City Council meeting.

If you would like to make a comment at the October 20 meeting, please SIGN UP ONLINE prior to the meeting. This helps City staff & Council manage public comment in an orderly fashion. NOTE: If you signup for public comment online prior to the meeting, you do NOT need to sign up again in-person at the meeting. Public comments are accepted from those attending in-person or via Zoom.

Additionally, the City Council packet has been revised as of 4:00 pm on 10/19/22 to reflect a change to the pre-amended ordinance. The “Preamended-Showing Amendments Engrossed STR Ordinance” and “STR Ordinance First Reading Amendments” documents, included in the Agenda packet for the 10/20/22 City Council meeting, were revised on 10/19/22 from the previous version posted on 10/18/22. The revision is in Section 7. Instead of deleting Section 7 in its entirety, it provides for the option of a temporary provisional license for current business license holders operating a short-term rental business within the SR, UR, MFS, MFU, MHP, HSCLI and PUD zoning districts. This would allow such businesses to carry on with their current STR use until July 31, 2023.

View the revised packet on the City website.

We have a few updates for you on the topic of short-term rentals. In case you missed it, here's what has happened since we last updated you:

• On September 29, 2022, City Council extended the moratorium on new business licenses for short-term rentals until December 15, 2022.
• On October 6, 2022 City Council reconvened on the topic of short-term rentals at a work session. They reviewed and discussed the draft ordinance that was recommended by the Planning Commission. You can watch the recording of the work session on our Youtube page.
• At the work session, members of Council requested that the City attorney bring back a pre-amended version of the ordinance on initial posting (first reading). The pre-amended version of the ordinance includes amendments that will remove the cap on STR licenses, and not allow STRs as a permitted use in Suburban Residential or Urban Residential zones.

Review the pre-amended STR ordinance on initial posting here.

The ordinance contains an updated "Table of Permitted Uses". This table includes abbreviations for different zones. Zone areas and explanation of zones can be found on the Zoning Map.

Next steps

At the regular City Council meeting this Thursday, October 20, City Council will review the preamended draft ordinance on initial posting (first reading). You can attend the meeting in person or via Zoom.

City Council agenda and meeting details

As always, if you have questions about the ordinance or next steps, please contact Grace Johnson, Assistant to the City Manager, at gjohnson@city-woodlandpark.org.

City Council to review Proposed Ordinance for Short-term Rentals on Thursday, Oct 6

This Thursday, Oct 6, at a 5:30 pm work session, City Council will review the proposed ordinance for short-term rentals.

An amended version of the ordinance was approved at the September 29 Planning Commission meeting. The City Council will now review the ordinance as recommended by the Planning Commission at the work session. You can attend in-person or via Zoom, though public comment is not typically heard at work sessions.

Review Amended Ordinance 10/04/22

MORATORIUM

At a special meeting on September 29, the City Council approved on initial posting to extend the moratorium on new businesses licenses for short-term rentals until December 15, 2022 and set the public hearing for October 6, 2022.

NEXT STEPS

After the City Council reviews the ordinance at the upcoming work session, there will be a first reading of the ordinance (including any additional changes) at the October 20 City Council meeting, and a public hearing at the November 3 City Council meeting. This schedule is subject to change...but we'll be sure to send you an email if it does!

Recordings of all STR-related City Council/Planning Commission meetings are available under "Important Links" on the project page.

During the September 8 Planning Commission Work Session, which you can watch on our Youtube page, a draft ordinance on short-term rentals was reviewed and discussed. The Planning Commission directed the City Attorney to make some amendments to the ordinance, and bring the ordinance back for a public hearing at the September 22 Planning Commission Meeting. The public is encouraged to review the ordinance using the link below.

View the Draft Ordinance for Short-term Rentals

Prior to making recommendations on this ordinance, the Planning Commission participated in two Joint Work Sessions with the City Council to review the Community Engagement Report, staff recommendation, and initial draft of the ordinance. Recordings of all public meetings of City Council/Planning Commission are available under "Important Links" on the project page.

August 18 Joint Work Session Outcomes & Next Steps

At the Joint Work Session of the City Council and Planning Commission on August 18, the group reviewed a draft ordinance from the City attorney. The draft ordinance included amendments to the City code concerning business regulations and zoning to license and regulate short-term rentals.

The group reviewed and discussed the draft ordinance, a draft application, and good neighbor guidelines. You can watch the discussion here. They determined the best course of action would be for the City attorney to make amendments to the draft ordinance, and send the amendments to the Planning Commission. At a work session on September 8, the Planning Commission will discuss and recommend changes if necessary.

What's Next?

The Planning Commission will review and discuss the revised draft ordinance at their work session at 6:30 pm on September 8, 2022. You can attend in-person at City Council Chambers or virtually via Zoom.

After the work session, the Planning Commission may choose to hold another work session, or bring the draft ordinance forward in a regular Planning Commission meeting. After the draft ordinance is approved by the Planning Commission, the Council will review the draft ordinance on initial posting (first reading) and vote on whether or not to bring it back for a final reading and vote at a future City Council meeting. This timeline is subject to change, and we will continue to provide updates via email and on the Project Page.

The moratorium on new short-term rentals remains in effect until October 14, 2022. At that time, the moratorium will expire unless prior action is taken, such as extending or removing it.

Watch the August 18 Work Session recording

July 21 Work Session Outcomes & Next Steps

At the Joint Work Session of the City Council and Planning Commission on July 21, the group heard a presentation of the Community Engagement Report and Staff Recommendations.

• The staff recommendation included many potential options for management of STRs moving forward.
• The group determined the best course of action would be for the City attorney to draft an ordinance that includes all of the recommendations so they would have something tangible to deliberate from.
• There is another work session on August 18 so the group can discuss each option and request revisions, additions, and exclusions as needed.

What's Next?

The moratorium on new short-term rentals remains in effect until October 14, 2022. At that time, the moratorium will expire unless prior action is taken, such as extending or removing it.

The City attorney is creating a draft ordinance for the City Council to review and revise as needed. There will be a follow-up work session between City Council and the Planning Commission on August 18 at 5pm to review and discuss the draft ordinance. You can attend in-person or virtually via Zoom. Meeting info and agenda is available here.

Watch the July 21 Work Session recording

View the Community Engagement Report

Watch the July 27 Virtual Debrief recording

As a reminder, there are two upcoming events related to the topic of short-term rentals.

City Council /Planning Commission Joint Work Session

Thursday July 21, 5:00 pm, City Council Chambers

This is a work session of the Woodland Park City Council and Planning Commission to discuss short-term rentals. The short-term rentals community engagement report and staff recommendation will be presented to the City Council. Typically public comment is not heard at work sessions, but the public is welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom. This meeting will be recorded and posted to the City website and Youtube.

Virtual Community Debrief

Wednesday July 27, 3:00 pm, virtually via Zoom (originally scheduled for July 20)

This is an update to the community from the project team that will include a presentation of the community engagement report, staff recommendation, project status and next steps. We will also provide answers to some of the frequently asked questions we have been receiving. Please join via Zoom. This meeting will be recorded and posted to the City website and Youtube.

Thank you for being part of WhatsUpWoodlandPark. Have you checked out the Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces Master Plan page yet? Check it out and add your input!