HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-16-17 Public Comment - S. Kirkland - Short Term RentalsDear Community,
We would like to comment on the Community's consideration of restrictions on short term rentals.
We own a vacation home in the Cooper Park Community. When we aren't using it, we try to find short
term renters to use the house.
There have been concerns expressed about the negative effects that short term rentals have on the
community.
We would like to point out some of the positive effects.
We love Bozeman and we would have purchased this home with or without the ability to have short
term rentals. However, without short term rentals, the house would be "dark" many months of the year
since it is our vacation home and we are not able to use it frequently.
By having short term rentals, the home is occupied and not "dark" over much more of the year. Short
term rental of our home is not cheap, and we think that the renters we have are more likely to be more
respectful of the community and the home than an average renter.
Due to the income we generate from the home, we are able to spend more money to care for the yard
and exterior than we would if we didn't have that income.
Also, due to the fact that we want the home to be attractive to prospective renters, we take better care
of the home and property than we would otherwise.
While it is true that short term renters don't pay property taxes, we do. Short term renters do pay
Montana hotel taxes. And while we contribute to the schools through taxes, neither us nor the short
term renters add to the population of the public schools.
We feel that short term renters probably contribute more to the stores and restaurants of Bozeman
than an average community member since they are on vacation and they are out and about a larger
percentage of their time.
Our renters walk through the neighborhood, walk through town, and visit the parks, all contributing to
the community feel.
We do feel that the application process for conditional use permits is quite onerous. We would like to be
"more legal," but we were informed by our lawyer that the total cost for applying for a permit that
would only be good for one year would be approximately $10,000. Since there are many steps in the
application process that requires someone to be present and since we live out of state a majority of
time, this requires us to pay for representation to be present. We would like to see the process
simplified and streamlined.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sue~
Susan Kirkland
susankirkland@mac.com