The Swiss-themed town of Midway can accommodate as many as 5,000 visitors at any given time in its short-term rentals.
Midway relies on tax revenue from nightly rentals. But those properties can also be vexing to full-time residents like Jody Deputy, who lives in the Transient Rental Overlay District (TROD). The zone includes the corridor along Main Street and the area around Midway’s resorts. It is home to about 90% of the town’s rental properties.
During a city council discussion of Midway’s short-term rental zone Nov. 18, Deputy told councilmembers the status quo is unacceptable for locals who live in the TROD. She said one house in her neighborhood, which can accommodate 14 guests, is notoriously loud.
“The setup is attractive to companies hosting large parties for over 100 people, weddings with strobe lights and loud music until 2 a.m., and even last month, we had a large swinger party visible to all of our homes from their backyard with all the lights on,” she said. “Can you imagine my 8-year-olds seeing that?”
She said the city needs to do a better job enforcing the rules for rental homes – or maybe even shrink the zone where rentals are allowed.
She and other residents were against a request to add another downtown home along 200 West to the rental district.
Lynette Wilson lives around the corner from the house and said Midway doesn’t need more nightly rentals.
“I didn’t know I lived in a resort,” she said. “I thought I lived in an agricultural community when I moved here 20 years ago.”
Wilson asked why the city would prioritize visitors over locals, and whether Midway really needs so many rental properties to get the resort community sales tax.
City staff say Midway has about 1,000 more beds than it needs to qualify for the extra sales tax. That includes rooms at resorts like Homestead and Zermatt.
Councilmember Kevin Payne said he’s concerned about the district’s slow expansion more than he’s worried about a single property’s application.
“Ever since I was first serving on planning commission, we were making land use decisions in order to preserve this resort tax,” he said. “Should that really be guiding long-term decisions for our community? I’m concerned with expanding, even to the point where I’d like to just eliminate it out of residential zones.”
Rental homes also bring extra property tax revenue to the city, since they don’t get a discount on their taxes.
Councilmember Craig Simons said the home warrants an exemption since it’s near downtown businesses.
“I also know that they won’t let this house become a party home,” he said.
The council voted in favor of allowing one more short-term rental, the opposite of what the planning commission had recommended.
Mayor Celeste Johnson warned the city may need to set clearer guidelines around expanding the rental overlay district.
“I think Midway is at a bit of a tipping point with this, and I think we need to be very, very careful,” she said. “We just moved the line. Now someone’s going to come in and say, ‘I’m contiguous; I’d like to get moved in.’ This is a slippery slope and a tricky one.”
More rental properties are coming soon, including in developments like Ameyalli, a wellness resort, and Swiss Haven, a 22-unit resort development.
Councilmembers said they’re sympathetic to locals’ frustrations with nightly rentals. They said they will discuss ideas to enforce the rules at rental homes more consistently, and they’ll reconsider which properties are eligible to be included in the TROD.
Also at the Nov. 18 meeting, councilmembers began considering new rules for rental property owners and managers. They’ll continue the conversation at their meeting Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Possible changes include allowing home rentals for less than 48 hours. The city could also require rentals to post contact information outside for any complaints and to advertise only the number of people the city allows in the unit, not the sometimes-higher number of beds.
