What are Short-Term Rentals (STR)?

Short-term rental generally means the rental of all or a portion of a property for less than 30 days. These rentals are generally listed on websites such as Airbnb.com or HomeAway.com.  

Regulating Short-Term Rentals

The issue of regulating short-term rentals is of increasing interest to local governments across the country. This is true in the Front Range and the City of Westminster. The short-term rental market nationwide has seen a 10-fold increase over the past five years. Although there are currently over 200 short-term rentals operating in Westminster, the City currently does not have any explicit regulations or guidelines in place. At the direction of City Council on March 7th, 2022, city staff is examining how to potentially implement simple, sensible and enforceable local policies that balance the rights of homeowners with the interests of neighbors, community members and businesses. City staff will be preparing research and recommendations on potential short-term rental regulations to present to the city’s Planning Commission and City Council at a later date. The goal is to develop a policy recommendation that incorporates the voice of our community, aligns with our neighbors along the front range, and creates clear and enforceable protections.

Update

Following Study Sessions on STRs with City Council on March 7, 2022 and October 17, 2022, City Council provided direction and the City proceeded with conducting ongoing community engagement and stakeholder outreach activities to gather input, feedback and recommendations. City Council will discuss STRs at the March 6, 2023 Study Session 

Pending direction from City Council, the next step in the STR process would be to present a draft Ordinance for consideration and action at a regular City Council meeting. Draft Code language is being presented for City Council review, feedback and direction (Click here) 

To provide input, or to ask questions, please contact Joy Tallarico Hunt at jtallari@cityofwestminster.us or 303-658-2342.

Engagement and Outreach Efforts

Engagement and outreach efforts on STRs commenced formally in early 2019. Following open invitations through a variety of communication channels, the City created and has maintained a list of interested community members and stakeholders. This distribution list is close to 350 individuals and anyone can ask to be added at any time. The City has had hundreds of interactions with interested parties on STRs over the past several years.

In early 2019, the City initiated direct communication with a variety of known stakeholders including homeowner’s associations, neighborhood associations, property owners of STRs and more to gather input. Input was also solicited at this time through The Weekly, the City Website, and Economic Development communications outlets. The City conducted a brief, non-scientific survey through the City’s regular communication channels to seek high-level impressions on STRs. The City received 629 responses. Due to other priorities and then the COVID-19 pandemic, leadership halted further work on STRs. Per that direction, nothing formally happened regarding STRs until the March 7, 2022 Study Session.

Following City Council’s direction out of the March 7, 2022 Study Session, an STR “campaign” was launched. During the week of June 13, 2022, the City re-initiated formal STR engagement efforts. These included:

• Website Landing Page: The City built out and updated the existing page with more resident-friendly language accessible via a link that was emailed out via an existing STR distribution list and The Westy email newsletter - https://www.cityofwestminster.us/Short-TermRentals
• Online Survey: The City built out a survey accessible directly via STR email and from STR landing page. The 2022 survey included previous questions from 2019 survey to gather trend data as well as additional demographic and priority rankings questions. 423 individuals responded to the STR survey.
• Focus Groups: The City conducted four different focus group sessions with interested community members and stakeholders to gather input, recommendations and to discuss potential regulatory approaches to STRs:
  • Tuesday, July 19, 5:30-7:30pm (MAC)
  • Tuesday, July 26, 11:30am - 1:30pm (City Park Recreation Center)
  • Wednesday, August 3, 6:00-8:00pm (Westview) 
  • Saturday, August 6, 11:30am - 1:30pm (City Park Recreation Center)
• City Council Update: City Council was provided with a bullet list with outreach details for the City Council Update email at the end of the week of June 13, 2022.
• The Westy: Materials needed for promotion were provided in The Westy email newsletter.
• Social Media: The City posted on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with an image and link to the STR landing page so residents can learn more and register or complete the survey.
• STR Stakeholder Email: The City sent an email using the EMMA platform to the existing STR listserv of interested parties who have engaged over the past several years.

Following City Council’s direction from the October 17, 2022 Study Session, the City drafted potential regulations for W.M.C. and returned to the community and stakeholder focus groups for input and feedback. Four sessions were held where invaluable insights, feedback and recommendations were provided:

• Saturday, January 7, 11:00am-1:00pm (Westview)
• Monday, January 9, 6:30pm - 8:30pm (The MAC)
• Wednesday, January 11, 11:00am-1:00pm (City Park Recreation Center) 
• Thursday, January 19, 6:00pm - 8:30pm (City Park Recreation Center)

Email and phone input was received and documented from 27 different individuals. All input will be documented up until the consideration of an STR Ordinance.