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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-19-17 Public Comment - T. LeQuesne - Short Term RentalsFrom:Chris Mehl To:Agenda Subject:FW: Short Term Rentals Date:Friday, May 19, 2017 3:47:03 PM Chris Mehl Bozeman City Commission cmehl@bozeman.net 406.581.4992 ________________________________________ From: Tricia LeQuesne [tricia.lequesne@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, May 19, 2017 2:05 PM To: Chris Mehl Subject: Short Term Rentals Dear Chris, I am writing to you with deep concern over the short term rental issue. I am strongly in favor of allowing short term rentals in Bozeman and see banning them as detrimental to this community. I do not see eliminating short term rentals in R1 or R2 (or any other zone) as an answer to Bozeman's housing issue. These houses will not be converted to long term rentals and even if they were, they would be unaffordable. This will only lead to empty houses and dead blocks. As a mental health counselor, who is concerned with disenfranchised community, this is of concern to me. I lived for many years in Big Sky and Banff, AB and I can tell you first hand that becoming a city of vacation homes, which is what will happen, does not build healthy communities. It creates more exclusion and further exacerbates the disparity between the have's and the have nots. Look at Jackson, Wy as an example. In my father's community in Florida, they went the opposite direction than this. They overturned a ban on rentals to bring life and diversity to their development and eliminate the empty, dark home situation. His neighborhood feels it was extremely successful. If you want to mitigate the risk of having too many then put a cap on the total or grandfather the existing ones and ban any future rentals but simply putting the hammer down on this issue is not the answer. What I am hearing is that the concern is over a future problem. If this is so, then why go after the ones already operating who are paying their bed taxes and getting health and safety permits from the county. For 20 years, Bozeman has been condoning short term rentals by refusing to enforce their own zoning policy. I see banning them as opening a door to law suits and unnecessarily inflicting harm on the community by taking away tourism dollars and eliminating the opportunity for authentic neighborhood connection and neighborhood appreciation. I think about all the people that vacation here because they love this community not because they love soulless corporate hotels on the interstate. They want to walk downtown, they spend money at local establishments, they come here to run races which are fundraisers for our community, they offer to volunteer at local non profits. This list goes on and on. Forcing them into hotels is counterproductive and will hinder community and tourism. In addition, I see the short term rentals providing cleaning and maintenance jobs. These houses are supplied by local coffee roasters and local community supported agriculture. Again, the list goes on and on. My final concern is that the city spent city dollars and city time drafting an ordinance which states that "73% felt they should be allowed in all city residential zoning districts". It seems constituents are in favor of short term rentals and I feel banning them, after the city has spent money on this research, is sending the message that the constituents really don't have a voice. In the current political climate, people are very sensitive to feeling like their voice does not matter. In the name of preserving and building community, I do not see this as the way to do that. Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. Sincerely, Tricia LeQuesne -- EcoTherapy Counseling & Consulting 2023 Stadium Dr., Suite 2B Bozeman, MT 59715 tricia@ecotherapycounseling.com<mailto:tricia@ecotherapycounseling.com> 406-404-6468 CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The contents of this email message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information and may be legally protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message or their agent, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply email and then delete this message and any attachments. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, copying, or storage of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.