HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-07-23 Public Comment - B. Neff - STRFrom:Bronson Neff
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public comment - STR
Date:Sunday, August 6, 2023 8:19:01 AM
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Dear Bozeman City Commission,
I would like to voice my opposition to any additional ordinances pertaining to short term
rentals in the city of Bozeman.
To add additional, and more complete bans on what a person can do with their property
without appropriate information or data supporting the efficacy of such a ban, is nothing
more than a trampling of individual property rights, which we hold in high value in
Montana.
Until the commission has a quantifiable understanding on whether or not this type of ban
can have a meaningful effect on housing affordability, this ban should not be on the table or
up for consideration. This should include understanding how many units would likely be
returned to long-term rental, and if that will have any notable impact on rental rates across
our city.
If further analysis is deemed necessary, the city should also consider the negative impact
that this could have on the how many these short term rental units that are being used by
those homeowners to create housing affordability in Bozeman for themselves by generating
extra income.
The commission should also consider the great number of individuals who manage, clean,
maintain and otherwise care for short term rentals, and the loss of wages for them. Often
this type of work is an additional job or supplemental source of income so that they can
afford to live in our community. The commission should not trade one person’s right to
work hard and invest responsibility to be able to afford to live in our community, for
another person’s ‘entitlement’ to receive something from those people.
Additionally, the commission should consider any other unforeseen economic impacts to the
community. Things like will our travel nurse dependent hospitals be able to maintain critical
nursing levels, what will the tourism dollar loss be by pushing tourists outside the city or to
other communities, what are the exposures to and costs of potential litigation.
The stakeholders for short term rentals will present empirical evidence as to why additional
laws and regulations against short term rentals should be a non-starter, but I would like you
to know that as a member of this community, I am not in favor of new short term rental
ordinances, or using Bozeman’s time and resources in pursuing research as to whether or
not this is a good idea, when it should seem clear that it is not.
Thank you.
-- Bronson Neff
(406) 624-9788bronsonneff@gmail.com