Council approves temporary festival lodging license to house visitors during large events

Boulder City Council on second reading approved Ordinance 87-15 to create a new, limited festival lodging rental license intended to expand short-term lodging capacity only when the city issues a festival event license.

The license is modeled on the city’s short-term rental rules but is time-limited and designed for rare, high-attendance festivals. Under the new code language, a property granted a festival lodging license may be used for short-term rentals only during a festival period defined by the city’s festival-event license: up to 10 days before and nine days after a festival, and the ordinance caps eligible use at up to 29 days in a calendar year (the council removed the word “consecutive” during the meeting so the days may be noncontiguous).

Why it matters: The ordinance was developed after Boulder secured a major festival commitment and staff said the license is intended to add regulated lodging supply for high-attendance events without changing year-round short-term rental rules or encouraging conversion of long-term housing into permanent short-term rental stock.

Key points of the ordinance - Eligibility: The draft expands which ownership types may hold the license (staff proposed allowing certain non-principal residences and LLC ownership), requires an affidavit of safety and occupancy limits, and carries the same $190 application charge used for other rental licenses; staff said the festival license would be valid for four years and the fee amortizes to roughly $47.50 per year. - Timing and scope: A festival lodging license can be used only when the city issues a festival event license. Staff proposed a working definition of festival as a multi-day event with expected attendance that exceeds hotel capacity (staff provided an illustrative threshold such as 50,000 attendees for the definition development). The license’s timing is tied to festival dates to cover setup and tear-down periods. - Taxation and enforcement: Nights rented under the festival license are subject to existing short-term rental tax collection requirements. Staff said existing advertising‑monitoring tools and their enforcement pipeline would be used to find unlicensed listings; enforcement can include fines and escalating administrative action.

Council discussion and amendments Council members asked for more analysis about impacts on second‑home owners, ADUs, HOAs, renter protections and whether the program would incentivize speculators. Staff said they had modeled example scenarios and did not find a clear, automatic financial incentive to convert housing to speculative festival‑only rentals but promised monitoring. During debate the council removed the word “consecutive” from the 29‑day limit so license days can be used noncontiguously across multiple eligible festivals. An additional proposed amendment to prohibit non‑principal‑residence holders (a removal of staff’s expanded ownership eligibility) failed on a council vote.

Vote and next steps On roll call the ordinance passed 7–1 (Adams opposed). Because council adopted amendments on second reading the ordinance will return for third reading at the October 9 meeting; staff told council that, if third reading passes on October 9, the ordinance would take effect November 8 and the first licenses would be issued in early December. Staff also said they will produce public web pages, FAQs and an application portal and will monitor market impacts and enforcement matters after the first festival cycle.

Speakers and public comment on the item raised questions about whether the license should be limited to owner‑occupied primary residences, how ADUs should be treated, HOA restrictions, renter subletting pathways and how to monitor impacts to vacancy and long‑term rental availability. Staff committed to additional work on ADUs, HOA pathways and renter protections before full implementation and to set up monitoring metrics for potential impacts to vacancy and rents.