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Council revisits short-term rental rules; staff compares Riverton code to Murray’s hosted-sharing model
Summary
Council members heard a presentation comparing Riverton’s short-term rental ordinance to Murray City’s hosted-sharing approach. Riverton currently requires owner occupancy of a minimum of 185 nights per year and limits rentals to 150 nights annually; staff said enforcement has been limited and most cases involve unpermitted operations.
Riverton staff presented a summary of short-term rental rules and compared the city’s owner-occupancy and annual-day limits to Murray City’s hosted-sharing model. Council members generally said the current Riverton approach strikes a balance between property rights and neighborhood impacts and focused discussion on enforcement.
Staff overview: A staff presenter summarized Murray City’s hosted-sharing ordinance, which conditions short-term rentals on the host cohabitating in the residence during guest stays and has no absolute yearly days cap. "What they do is they basically define the term hosted sharing... you have to be there as well, cohabitating," the presenter said when describing Murray’s model. By contrast, Riverton’s code requires property owners to live on the property a minimum of 185 nights per year and limits short-term rentals to 150 nights a year.
Enforcement and common complaints: Council and staff said most enforcement cases result from operators who do not obtain a conditional-use permit. Typical complaints reported to council included overcrowding in rentals, parking problems and after-hours activity. Staff noted the planning commission’s conditional-use review focuses on off-street parking, lighting and neighborhood impacts.
Council views: Several council members, including McDougall and Broker, said they believed Riverton’s current rules strike the right balance and cautioned against frequent code changes that require new resident outreach and reeducation. Staff said code enforcement responses to short-term rentals are "somewhat minimal" compared with other daily-enforcement duties, but the city will pursue enforcement when evidence shows the owner is not meeting occupancy requirements.
Next steps: No ordinance change was adopted. Staff said they will return through the planning commission if the council asks for code language to be drafted. Council directed staff only to continue monitoring enforcement and to return with any recommended code language if further changes are proposed.
