Code Enforcement Officer Ben McDougal provided the Town Council with an update on Short Term Rentals during the November 14, 2022, council meeting.  Chair Jeremy Gabrielson said that the update was being offered as a report and that no action was anticipated.

McDougal said that the second year of the new Short Term Rental Ordinance was, “Good overall.”  This year there were 33 permitted rentals; two less than the prior year.  McDougal anticipates that this number will not change significantly in the future and that approximately half of the short term rentals were for “unhosted” or “adjacent” propreties.  Complaints were down 90% from the prior year and the few complaints that did come in McDougal could not substantiate.  “It seems like the goal of the council has been achieved; short term rentals are less of an impact on neighbors from what I am hearing,” McDougal said.

Gabrielson pointed out that the permit fees established with the new ordinance, were put forth in part, to cover the cost of the software purchased to assist the Code Enforcement Officer identify non-compliant rentals and asked McDougal if the fees were indeed covering the expense?  McDougal answered, “Yes, the fees are covering it; those numbers are working well for us.”

Councilor Penny Jordan asked if the software had identified any extraneous units that were not permitted? McDougal answered that the software had enabled him to identify a couple of instances where a rental was being operated without a permit because the owner was unaware of the ordinance.