Foothills group wants input in Je co’s revision of STR regulations

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A group of foothills residents says Je erson County’s current short-term rental requirements are inadequate and they want to help improve them.

e Foothills Community Action Group wants Je co o cials to understand that having a short-term rental – known as an STR – in the foothills is di erent than having one down the hill. ey are concerned that STRs with hot tubs are using excessive water, hurting other homeowners’ wells and septic systems; that some absentee STR owners aren’t monitoring the properties or the people staying in them; and that out-of-town guests don’t understand wild re risks, endangering neighbors.

ey also say that STRs are so lucrative that property owners would rather use houses as short-term rentals rather than renting to people who work or live in the foothills and want longer leases, continuing the foothills’ problems with a lack of available housing.

Je erson County’s Planning & Zoning Department is starting to revise the STR regulations, and three sta members who attended the foothills group’s meeting on April 27 said they agreed with the participants’ concerns.

“ e theme of tonight is that what is currently going on is unacceptable,” said planner Cassidy Clements, who is spearheading the county’s regulation rewrite. “ at is why the regulation updates are so important.”

“It’s why we want to update the short-term rental regulations,” Chris O’Keefe, Je co Planning and Zoning director, told about 70 people who attended the meeting. “We know there are a lot of short-term rentals out there not going through the process. We hear from people like yourselves who have STRs operating in your communities that are not respectful. We want to do more.”

Sta members answered a variety of questions posed by members of the group on how the county currently handles short-term rentals. Sta members also cautioned the group that it was important for county o cials to avoid prioritizing one community group’s concerns over another, noting that the department needed to listen to everyone throughout the county.

“ ere are a lot of people in the county who care very deeply about this issue, and we want to hear all voices,” Clements said.

Among the rules in the current Je co STR regulations are that STRs must be on a minimum one-acre lot; adequate parking must be provided, equaling the number of bedrooms in the home plus an additional spot; de- fensible space requirements must be met; and there can be no more than ve bedrooms. Owners must go through an application process that includes a hearing before the county’s Board of Adjustment.

Background

Je co Planning & Zoning began revising the STR regulations, but the pandemic put a stop to the required public hearings, so changes were put on hold. e county has just begun looking at the regulations again.