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Show Park City planners defer decision on ambiguous nightly rental proposal by Rick Brough The outline for a proposed nightly rental ordinance went back to the drawing board last week at the April 10 meeting of the Park City Planning Commission. The board unanimously unanimous-ly voted to refer it to planning staff after hearing protests that the proposal was too vague in defining the planning standards a nightly rental must meet. Realtor Bob Ziegler said the planning commission would have too much leeway to arbitrarily reject Conditional requests for nightly rental. He agreed the rentals should meet health and safety standards, I but they should be stated specifical- f ly- John Miiller, executive vice-presi- dent of Deer Valley resort, said nightly rentals should be approved if I the surrounding neighborhood decides de-cides to have it. Regulation should be minimal beyond certain health and safety issues. "Get the government the hell out of people's lives," he said. Planning Commission Chairman f Brad Olch said a rental ordinance can't be specific enough to address all: the planning issues that would arise around town. "Park City is so diversified, it is impossible to do something that would satisfy everybody," every-body," he noted. Planning Commissioner Ron Whaley told the businessmen present at the meeting, "I'd like to dump it all in your laps." He said the commission supported the right of neighborhoods to decide nightly rentals. "Yes," said Ziegler, "but don't give 70 other reasons for the Planning Commission to deny it." Ziegler went over the proposal, pinpointing areas he said were vague and would allow planners to deny rentals arbitrarily. For instance, he said, the outline says careful consideration will be given to "the comments of nearby residents." And parking requirements should be detailed more specifically, he said. He added that the outline is too ambiguous in calling for necessary site improvements, review of fencing and landscaping and a requirement to keep the house (paint, windows) in "reasonable condition." Ziegler said, "How do we know what the staff feels about that?" (The outline, among other things, also calls for the rental property to promptly handle snow and garbage; calls for the nearby roadway to be a maximum 10 percent grade and the driveway to be less than 12 percent; says the property should comply with building code; and says efforts should be undertaken to mitigate noise impacts.) Whaley argued the outline was not the final ordinance. It will be . reviewed by the city attorney and city council. "We're throwing out a bone that will be so chewed up we won't recognize it," he said. But Planning Commissioner Ray Robinson said the ordinance was not ready for the commision to recommend recom-mend it to City Council. Planning Commissioner Paul Bickmore seconded, "I think it's ambiguous and impossible to interpret." Before the commission deferred the ordinance, Ziegler explained his frustration by noting he will make a trip to Washington, D.C. as a lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors. He said he would meet with Senators Robert Dole and Edward Kennedy to argue against proposed tax reforms that will hurt Park City. "If we don't have the (current) interest deductions on second homes, this town will collapse. But I feel awkward arguing for that when our own people are j taking away investment opportuni-" ties," he said. If the city's concern is regulating rental properties, it should rely on the property management firms to do that, said Tom Distad, who is himself a property manager. The manager has an interest in seeing the rules are followed, he told the commission. The problem, responds the planning plan-ning staff, is that on many sites the city has not had the chance to see what rules are needed. The properties have not been addressed on health and safety issues. Planner Dave Boesch explained to the Record that most Old Town single residences residenc-es were built before the 1980s, when city regulations were developed. Therefore, these houses were "grandfathered" (not required to comply with laws passed after they were built). But if the buildings change their use (ask for nightly rental) the new laws apply, and the city will have to study the health and safety issues of each site. Boesch said he believes the staff will prepare a compromise rental ordinance that will have more defensible guidelines to review rentals. It is set for the next planning meeting on May 8. The April 24 meeting has been cancelled for lack of items on the agenda. |