Short-term Rentals

At the March 16, 2023 Regular City Council meeting, Council considered Ordinance 1443, an ordinance extending the temporary moratorium on the submission, acceptance, processing and approval of new applications for all business licenses for Short-term Rentals to December 31, 2023. The motion passed unanimously.

The public hearing is scheduled for the April 6, 2023 Regular City Council meeting.

At the work session on March 2, 2023, City Council discussed next steps for a short-term rental ordinance in Woodland Park. The outcome of that meeting was direction to city staff to conduct more research on the topic, including data on current short-term rentals operating in city limits, and bring that data back to Council.

At the next regular City Council meeting on March 16, the Council will decide whether or not to extend the moratorium on new business licenses for short-term rentals until the end of 2023. The current moratorium will end on June 30, 2023.

Sidenote: We have gotten a lot of records requests specifically for a full list of all short-term rental properties within City limits that currently possess a business license. This is public information. To reduce staff time and make it easier for our customers to access this information, we have added that full list to the Short-term Rentals Project page.

At the February 16 Regular City Council meeting, Council repealed Ordinance No.1431, an ordinance regulating short-term rentals in the City of Woodland Park.

City Council will reconvene during a work session tentatively scheduled for 5:00 pm on March 2, 2023 to discuss next steps.

The protest period for the petition repealing Ordinance No.1431 has concluded as of February 8, 2023. The period concluded without a successful protest.

The petition to repeal Ordinance No. 1431 was deemed sufficient on January 23, 2023. At the next City Council meeting on February 16, the Woodland Park City Council shall either repeal Ordinance No. 1431, or allow registered voters in the City to vote on the repeal of the ordinance by way of City election, paid for by the City of Woodland Park.

View February 16 Council Agenda

Referendum Petition of Ordinance No.1431 Deemed Sufficient

On January 23, 2023, City Clerk of the City of Woodland Park, Suzanne Leclercq, MMC, deemed a petition repealing Ordinance No. 1431 as sufficient. The Woodland Park City Council shall either repeal Ordinance No. 1431, or open the repeal of the ordinance to the community by way of City election, paid for by the City of Woodland Park. Click the link below to learn more.

View Press Release

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.