Short-term rentals need to be restricted

Do you want to see a steady stream of vacation rentals in your neighborhood?

The Northwest Montana Association of Realtors is proposing to the Flathead County Planning Board and the Flathead County commissioners that short-term rentals, or the renting of homes for less than 30 days as vacation rentals, be allowed in all neighborhoods and zoning designations throughout Flathead County. Currently short-term rentals are not legal uses in zoned areas of the county, though many residents are illegally renting their property for short-term rentals.

Some short-term rentals when well managed may be going unnoticed in your neighborhood, but unfortunately too many are not well managed and are causing on-going issues with a steady stream of transients renters and their guests coming and going, safety and road access issues, fire safety, and unwanted noise from large gatherings. If short-term rentals are made legal in all zoned areas in the county it is also likely that investment firms will buy up more properties and existing residents will further expand the operations of short-term rentals in the county.

We, and many others, are concerned that as proposed, these minimal requirements are not enough to address impacts on neighbors, most of whom bought their property thinking that zoning would not allow multiple commercial rentals in their neighborhoods.

It was unsettling at the public hearing on this issue on Feb. 8 to hear some of those who spoke, who currently operate short-term rentals in zoned areas, ask the county planning board to not even adopt the minimal regulations proposed for short-term rentals and to remove any limits to the number of short-term rentals on a single piece of property. Some on the planning board were ready to vote on removing all regulations, but the decision was tabled until March 8 to give the board more time to decide. We support County Planning Director Mark Mussman’s recommendations to require one parking space per bedroom instead of two, and restricting short-term rentals to one dwelling unit per property

The Planning Board needs to give serious thought to limiting short-term rentals instead of rubber-stamping the proposal as it is written. In my opinion there needs to be some limitations to the zoned areas where short-term rentals are allowed, some type of cap needs to be put in place to limit the number of rentals on one piece of property, and stronger standards for short-term rentals are needed to protect neighborhoods.

Over the past few years the county has already amended county zoning to allow what are called Accessory Dwelling Units within a home or as a separate building, which can be rented for 30 days or more in all zones. Guest houses and caretaker houses were also added, but are not supposed to be rented. With increasing frequency, however, guest houses are also being rented. Now if short-term rentals are approved, even a person’s home may be rented creating many multiple essentially “motel operations” running in a single-family residential neighborhood, and potentially next door to you.

Mayre Flowers has written a very thorough analysis of some of these concerns and provides a menu of possible conditions that the county could adopt to help insure that short-term rentals are more neighborhood-friendly. This report also raises questions about if short-term rentals are appropriate in all zoned areas. To read go to: http://flatheadcitizens.org/ShortTermRentals2017.html

I encourage you to email the Planning Board about your concerns with short-term rentals before their next meeting on March 8 where they are likely to make a final recommendation to the county commissioners on short-term rentals in your neighborhood. Send your comments to: Planning.Zoning@flathead.mt.gov

Ask the County Planning Board to give careful weight to neighbors’ concerns about allowing these rentals in their neighborhoods. Not all neighborhoods should have short-term rentals. Time to speak up.

Cliff and Cheryl Palmer are residents of Bigfork.