Falling back into STR talks

Discussion on short term rentals (STRs) is likely to pick back up in the fall as the Saratoga Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing on the matter for August 13.

STRs are housing rented out for a short period of time, typically ranging from a few days to a month. Long term rentals are leased for time periods ranging from several months to years.

Previously, the STR discussion began in 2023 when the Planning Commission discussed passing ordinance to potentially regulate the rentals. Primary suggestions revolved around creating permits to limit the number of STRs. This discussion was quickly halted as Town Attorney Kylie Waldrip raised concerns about such a permit creating liability for the Town.

The tabled draft from the Planning Commission limited the maximum number of STR permits to 50 per year, stipulated the owner must be a Saratoga resident and barred short term rentals from residential zones RD 7200 and RD 14000.

Waldrip said Jackson was spearheading legislation in regards to this issue, and the Town of Saratoga should wait for legal battles there to conclude.

As reported on January 25, the Saratoga Sun was unable to find any evidence of litigation against STR regulations within Wyoming.

Discussions regarding STRs have continued to take place in both Planning Commission and Saratoga Town Council meetings, however no action has yet been taken.

The Sun conducted a small study to survey the STRs in the town of Saratoga.

The STRs in this study were collected and validated from the websites Airbnb and Vrbo within the timeframe of June 30 to July 1. As those websites do not list the physical addresses for the property, the Sun used the pictures and the maps on the website to gain an approximate location, then traveled to that area to identify the STR. Then, the Sun used the Rural Addressing map from the Carbon County website to find the owner of the property, where they were located, and the age of the deed.

In total, in the time period investigated, the Sun found addresses for 28 lots that contain one or more STRs. There were more STRs listed on the Airbnb and Vrbo websites the Sun was not able to find the address for. The Sun did not include STRs where the lister was renting out individual rooms instead of the entire house.

Of those 28 lots with an STR, 12 were owned by people whose mailing address was listed to be in Saratoga. 57% of STRs were owned by people and companies not located in Saratoga.

The most common deed year for the STRs was 2022, or 46% of the listings.

Listings for Airbnb display the amount of years the “host” has been listing STRs. This does not indicate the amount of time a property has been a STR. From those listed on Airbnb, 12 of 25 or 48% of listers have been hosting for two or less years, 16% have been hosting for three or four years and 46% have been hosting for more than four years.

One of the investigated areas, the Saratoga Hylands subdivision behind Valley Foods, contained seven houses. Six of them were confirmed to be STRs. All six of those STRs have the year on their deed listed as 2022 or 2023. Three of the properties are owned by an individual from Rock Springs.

Zoning was also taken into consideration. Eight STRs were in areas zoned RD 7200, which according to Saratoga Municipal Code 18.18.010, has the same intent in zoning as RD 14000.

The intent for RD 14000, as stated by Saratoga Municipal Code 18.15.010, is “established within the town to provide areas for single-family dwellings and necessary accessory building. The regulations enumerated for this district are designed to encourage and promote the construction of and the continued use of the land for single-family dwellings, to promote and encourage a suitable environment for family life, to prohibit uses of the land which would substantially interfere with development or continuation of single-family dwellings in the districts, and to prevent use of the land for purposes which would overburden the public facilities. Permitted as conditional uses within these districts will be certain structures and uses required to serve the residents such as public schools, churches and noncommercial recreational areas.”

There were six STRs in areas zoned for RD 9000, which is intended for medium density residential developments.

The data collected will be displayed on the Saratoga Sun website.