Residents to weigh in on short-term rentals

“It’s my property. I should be able to do what I want with it!”

“Short-term visitors are loud and rude and are destroying our peaceful neighborhoods!”

Those quotes, culled from recent social media discussions pretty much sum up the the vast chasm of dissent between supporters and opponents of short-term rentals (often referred to colloquially as “Air BnBs” although they are actually managed by several services).

Residents will get a chance to weigh in on the subject at a city-sponsored town hall scheduled for Wednesday, July 12 at 5 p.m. at the Elaine K. Smith Building located at 700 Wyoming St.

The current situation in Boulder City is confusing for both those renting out residences to short-term visitors and to their neighbors who may not appreciate that usage.

There is no option for permitting or licensing of short-term rentals in Boulder City code, making such uses technically illegal. However, there is also no specific language outlawing, limiting or otherwise managing such usage, which means there is no effective way to enforce the fact that short-term rentals are not legal.

At a recent city council meeting, council members heard from city staff about state law and how other jurisdictions, including Henderson and Clark County, were handling the situation. Staff asked the council for guidance on the issue and the council voted to ask staff to gather community input, hence the scheduled town hall.

Part of the confusion stems from AB363, a law signed in 2021 and that took effect on July of 2022 which said that most jurisdictions within the state had to put licensing, permitting and other considerations in place to allow for some level of short-term rentals. But note the word “most.”

As a then-state senator, Mayor Joe Hardy was able to insert a caveat into AB363 that exempted municipalities with fewer than 25,000 residents from the new law’s requirements, which allows Boulder City the ability to opt-out.

The fact that short-term rentals are technically illegal has not stopped property owners from listing them anyway. As noted in previous Boulder City Review coverage and at the May 23 council meeting, where the issue was initially discussed, a search of any popular website offering short-term rentals will show somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 properties ranging from single rooms in a home to apartments to large luxury homes overlooking Lake Mead to even an RV parked near the lake.

It also became obvious that some property owners had purchased homes specifically to use as short-term rentals and had several such properties in the area.

“I’m surprised that people who understand licensing know that it (short-term rentals) is not available in the city and are doing it anyway,” noted councilmember Steve Walton.

“The status quo is not going to work anymore,” said councilmember Sherri Jorgensen. “Having nothing on the books is clearly not stopping it.”

City Attorney Brittany Walker concurred, noting that Boulder City has no process for levying civil penalties and that most jurisdictions have processes in place to allow for a civil enforcement process.