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4. Aspen halts new short-term rental permits for nine months

Maureen Salahshoor Denver, CO

December 31, 2021

Aspen, Colorado, has placed a nine-month moratorium on new short-term rental permits. The City Council passed Emergency Ordinance 27 on December 8 in an effort to ease the city’s affordable housing crunch as real estate values and short-term rental numbers have escalated over the past few years. The council also placed a six-month moratorium on new building permits for projects that would increase a property’s overall size, height, or net leasable or net livable area.

Land-use applications already submitted before the measure was passed, as well as 100% affordable housing or historical preservation projects, are exempt from the ban. Existing short-term rental permits issued in 2021 are still valid and may be renewed next year, but no new permits will be issued in 2022. Shortly before the ordinance was passed, the city was working to process 182 last-minute short-term rental permit applications.

“A pause in certain types of residential development is necessary in order to assess the current state of the affordable housing program, assess gaps and opportunities in the regulations and delivery of units relative to need, and consider future community needs in the housing sector in the context of larger land use code issues,” Ordinance 27 states.

Two local real estate agents have filed a petition for a citizen referendum to repeal the moratorium. City Clerk Nicole Henning must accept the petition’s language, and then organizers must gather 993 signatures of registered Aspen voters within 180 days. If those signatures are certified by Henning’s office, the City Council must review the petition within 20 days. If the council rejects  it, the measure would go to the vote in a special election.