This letter concerns the February 15 second reading of the Summit County Private Lodging Ordinance. The ordinance has already impacted property values ​​throughout unincorporated Summit County. I had hoped that a set of very onerous regulations would be built upon a bedrock anchored foundation of analytics. It’s that the analysis seems built to fit a particular narrative that provides a less sturdy foundation than a foundation of cinder blocks laid on moving sand. But that’s where leadership chooses to position themselves. Some examples include:

• A moratorium was implemented based on the statement regarding the increase in short-term rental permit applications, while the actual permit application rate was trending downward.
• Make decisions based on the total number of licenses, not the licenses in use. (The “placeholder” license count is over 20% due to concerns about license availability.)
• We’re showing a chart of home price growth in Summit County, but not comparing it to other counties with very strict rental regulations. (Summit County was only catching up with Boulder and Denver counties.)
• The “sales leading to short-term rental licenses” statistic shows 39% (using Frisco’s method) when the actual net gain was 12%. (The 12% increase was even artificially high due to the aforementioned “placeholder” licenses.)
• Rely on surveys that allow participants to submit multiple entries.
• I couldn’t stand the rigors of a mere 30 minutes of true academic analysis leveraging the research of a for-profit “economy” company.

Because of this myriad of issues, I urge Summit County leaders to take a step back, re-evaluate the overall direction of regulation, and make decisions based on thorough and open research. Readers of Summit Daily News, message us on Facebook for an in-depth review.