Master planning for tourism

The Saratoga Town Council heard from their new appointment to the Carbon County Vistor’s Council (CCVC) during their regular meeting on July 16.

Ellie Dana Raymer, the Saratoga representative to the CCVC, spoke to the council to talk about recent initiatives and the 2023 Tourism Master Plan.

She highlighted specific portions of the master plan that she thought the town council “might be interested in.”

Under “The Visitor Experience” portion of the master plan Dana Raymer focused on goals such as “Improve the county’s appearance” and “Implement a cohesive wayfinding sign system.”

The other initiatives under the Visitor Experience portion of the master plan are:

Support the development of new or improved attractions, amenities, and businesses to fill community and visitor needs, support downtown development efforts in the County’s communities, create a Carbon County wind energy attraction to educate and entertain visitors and residents about the wind energy industry and investigate acquiring a van or bus to assist with transportation for various travel industry needs.

Councilmember Jerry Fluty said marker signs to areas of interest in the Valley, like the Saratoga Hot Pools, was a good idea.

Next, Dana Raymer highlighted goals in the Hospitality and Economic Development Framework area. The first focus was to “support efforts to improve the local hospitality workforce quantity and quality.”

Dana Raymer emphasized the importance of a workforce, and presented the idea of talking to Brush Creek Ranch about their recruiting efforts, and using those methods to recruit workers from outside Saratoga as a Town.

She also discussed the “back efforts to develop new lodging and camping facilities” goal, and asked if the Town had any initiatives there. Fluty said the funding was currently not available to do water and sewer work at Saratoga Lake, but would like to do that if the funding was there.

To finish, Dana Raymer said she “took the liberty of crossing out two things they had on their plan.”

Under the goal “Encourage local governments to explore the effects short-term rental properties have on their communities,” Dana Ramer removed two sub points.

“One of the suggestions was that we restrict out of state owners. When you get into the issues of property rights, I don’t think the council here [wants to do that],” she said.

Several council members nodded their heads in agreement with that statement.

“The other was restricting the number of units that could be short term rentals. I think taking that on is a big no-no,” Dana Raymer said.

“Me too,” said Councilmember Mike Cooley.

“I will inform them that that’s not on your agenda,” Dana Raymer said.

“Not at this time,” said Mayor Chuck David.

Councilmember Kathy Beck asked if there was a way to get a list of the short term rentals in Saratoga, “so people are aware of how many we have in our community.”

Dana Raymer asked her husband and owner of R.G. Raymer Construction, Randy Raymer, if he knew a way to determine the number of short term rentals in the Valley. Raymer said that potentially looking into AirBnb and Vrbo could determine the number of registered short term rentals.

“One of the reasons some communities in Wyoming are pursuing a permitting type process is so that you register. It’s not necessarily a fee, but it’s so you have this place to go,” Beck said.

Dana Raymer said she would ask about ways to determine the number of short term rentals and the permitting process at the CCVC meeting.

“What are we gaining from licensing?” Fluty asked. “Control? Just one more rule, one more permit, a little more control.”

It should be noted Fluty owns three short term rentals in Saratoga.

“There’s a reason for permitting, even if it’s just a communication basis. Communication with communities is not going to necessarily impede on any type of business these folks have, but it’s a way to centralize the information,” Beck said.

Davis encouraged members of the public to attend the August 13 Planning Commission meeting, where a public hearing on short term rentals will be held.

The next Saratoga Town Council meeting will be July 30 at 6 p.m. at the Saratoga Town Hall.