Longmont event-rental pilot leaves guest limits and review rules unresolved

Longmont staff are preparing a proposed one-year license for some resident-run home rentals during city-approved major regional events, but public materials do not specify guest limits, how many homes could qualify or how the pilot would be evaluated.

The proposal is tied to lodging demand from the Sundance Film Festival, scheduled for Boulder Jan. 21-31, 2027. The Aug. 4 City Council study-session packet says staff were finalizing Land Development Code amendments and planned to bring them to Council for first reading Aug. 11. The packet describes a proposed “Major Regional Event License for temporary rentals,” not an adopted program.

Under the proposal, eligible applicants would be Longmont residents, and rentals could be in any type of housing, including an owner-approved sublet. The City Council or city manager could designate events. The proposed Type B license would use the same zoning districts as the existing Type A short-term-rental license, receive administrative approval and have no proposed cap on the number of Type B licenses a resident could receive.

The pilot would last one year, after which Council would decide whether to continue it. The packet does not identify required reporting or criteria such as complaints, occupancy, tax collections, safety violations or neighborhood impacts. It also does not say whether Type B rentals would follow current occupancy, enforcement and neighborhood rules or receive different limits.

Longmont’s current short-term-rental rules define a short-term rental as an entire dwelling or individual rooms rented for fewer than 30 days, but do not list a numeric guest limit. They require short-term-rental and sales-and-use-tax licenses, allow inspections before issuance or renewal, and say unlicensed rentals can face code enforcement, fines of up to $500 per day and/or a court summons. In Residential Rural and Residential Single Family areas, the rules generally allow one short-term rental on each side of a street per block without conditional-use approval, which can involve a neighborhood meeting and Planning and Zoning Commission review.

The city reported 1,006 hotel rooms and projected Sundance demand in the study-session presentation, but those figures do not establish how many homes would qualify under the proposed resident, housing and zoning conditions. The City Council calendar listed an Aug. 11 session, but as of Aug. 5 did not identify a Type B agenda item or publish a draft ordinance, leaving the planned first reading subject to confirmation.

The proposal follows Council direction earlier this year to develop a new short-term-rental license for major regional events, the city’s Development Code Updates page says. Until a draft code and review measures are released, the public record supports reporting a proposed event-specific license framework—not a complete or quantified lodging program.