Short-term rentals back on council table

Meeting Jan. 30 to take look at various amendments to proposed ordinance

Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican

1/22/2008 - 1/23/08

The Santa Fe City Council next week resumes a long-running debate over regulating short-term vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods. But it remains unclear whether any of the ideas floating around City Hall have enough support to become law.

City Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to announce proposed amendments to a bill that is up for consideration next week.

Wurzburger, who has been working on the issue for two years, outlined what she said is a compromise that will have consensus support. Councilor Chris Calvert showed up to back the changes, which include allowing existing illegal short-term rental units to continue operating as long as the properties don't change hands.

Councilor Patti Bushee, meanwhile, intends to introduce amendments that would change the bill in a different way: creating overlay districts that would permit short-term rentals in residential areas if the council grants a zoning change.

Both proposals are aimed at altering a bill on the agenda for the Jan. 30 council meeting that was introduced by Mayor David Coss and Councilor Miguel Chavez.

While their bill incorporated major elements from an earlier Wurzburger proposal, the Chavez/Coss idea differs in that it schedules an end to short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods in five years unless the rentals are operated by an occupant-owner on adjacent land. It would limit the number of times per year that properties could be rented, impose fees and create regulations on parking, occupancy and notification.

Coss, who was en route Tuesday afternoon to Washington, D.C., for a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said he had looked at Wurzburger's amendments and is in "general agreement with them."

The council earlier this month tabled discussion on the issue after an intense public hearing, after which the mayor closed public testimony at the next hearing unless it applies to new amendments.

Wurzburger said she wants to give those who might want to comment ample time to review the proposed changes. She also said she had talked to other councilors and expected to have the five votes needed to pass the version she supported, although she noted it "would be folly" to assume a firm vote count this early.

"I do believe this is the best we can do to bring forth a solution," she said, adding that the revenue from and impacts of the rules will be reviewed in 18 months.

Bushee, who is up for re-election on March 4, said at a Monday night candidate forum that she was not sure the issue was ready for a vote. Wurzburger disagreed Tuesday. "There is consensus to move this forward," she said.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.