Centennial staff outlines proposed hotel licensing program after data shows disproportionate calls for service

City staff presented a proposed licensing program for commercial lodging facilities at the Centennial City Council study session on March 18 in Centennial, Colorado. Eric Eddy, assistant city manager, said the program would require all existing and new hotels in Centennial to register with the city and provide contact information, site-safety assessments and basic best-practice standards beginning Jan. 1, 2026, with the calls-for-service (CFS) review mechanic not taking effect until Jan. 1, 2027.

Eddy said the proposal is meant to be collaborative rather than punitive. "This is not intended to be a punitive action on hotels," he told the council, adding the city and the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office would offer site-safety assessments and ongoing data analysis to identified properties.

The recommendation followed a year-long review of calls for service. Staff reported that across 15 hotels in Centennial, deputies recorded about 1,140 CFS during the 12-month analysis period, out of roughly 28,140 calls for service citywide. Viewed two ways, hotels make up about 4% of Centennial's housing-unit equivalent (about 1,700 rooms vs. roughly 42,000 households) but accounted for about 13% of calls for service when treated as residential units; when measured against businesses, hotels are roughly 0.7% of businesses but accounted for about 5% of total CFS to the sheriff's office from fixed addresses in the sample period.

Staff described a tiered approach based on a calls-for-service ratio (annual calls divided by number of rooms). Under the proposed framework: properties below a 1.39 CFS ratio would be subject only to baseline requirements—registration, up-to-date contact information, photo ID expectations for guests and offered (but not required) site-safety assessments. Properties falling into a higher band (the "yellow" tier) would be required to complete sheriff-led site-safety assessments and document implementation steps for recommended security practice changes. At renewal, a hearing officer could consider additional conditions—such as added lighting, security cameras or staffing changes—if a hotel’s CFS ratio and follow-up review warranted those measures. Staff said no Centennial hotels currently meet the highest noncompliance threshold described in the draft framework.

Eddy said staff are recommending the initial license be issued without a fee to emphasize partnership: the permit would be annual and no charge would be required at application or renewal under the current recommendation. Councilman Sheehan questioned a no-fee approach, saying, "When you give something away, something for free ... it doesn't have the same level of attention or respect," and raised the city’s resource costs for the sheriff's office and hearing processes. Eddy replied staff considered cost recovery but recommended no fee to reduce friction for operators while preserving the authority to require conditions at renewal.

Council members asked about data quality and program mechanics. Braden Wert, management analyst in the Office of Strategic Initiatives, was identified as the primary analyst. Eddy said staff worked with the sheriff's office and city attorney's office to refine the dataset, remove unrelated events (for example, traffic stops not associated with hotel activity) and to develop severity-weighting for different call types. "We don't just say a call for service is a call for service," Eddy said, describing plans to weight welfare checks differently than violent-crime responses.

Council members pressed for outreach and for staff to track program costs. Council member Holt and Council member Collins both emphasized that formal, city-led outreach to all 15 hotels should occur before the ordinance is introduced. Eddy said staff have done limited informal outreach and would meet with every hotel if council provided consensus to move forward. Council member Austin and Council member Carnes asked staff to track law-enforcement and city staff time during the initial no-fee period so any future fee or cost-recovery proposal would be based on actual program costs.

Staff also compared Centennial’s proposed thresholds to other Colorado cities. Eddy said Wheat Ridge initially set a 1.8 CFS threshold then tightened to 1.5, and Lakewood and Pueblo use a 1.89 baseline; staff said the 1.89 figure informed their analysis but that Centennial would continue refining thresholds and severity weighting before returning with a draft ordinance.

Eddy asked for council consensus to return with a proposed ordinance and to conduct formal outreach; council members discussed and indicated consensus to have staff bring back a formalized policy for consideration. The next steps staff described were formal outreach to each of the 15 hotels, further refinement of the calls-for-service severity weighting and preparation of a draft ordinance for council consideration.

Questions, clarifications and additional details from the session are included below.