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Manager urges Aspen to lift short-term rental cap in RMF zone to capture tax revenue
Summary
Bridal Properties general manager Ben Wolf told council the RMF zone has 40 people on the STR wait list while existing grandfathered permits put the zone roughly 25 permits over the cap; he suggested lifting the cap could increase city tax revenue and asked council to revisit STR policy at a work session.
Ben Wolf, general manager of Bridal Properties and a former member of the city's Short-Term Rental stakeholders committee, presented permit and wait-list figures to the Aspen City Council during public comment on Sept. 10 and urged a policy review.
Wolf said that through Aug. 1, 2024, the R-6 zone had 12 permits issued with 81 total permits available and R-15 had seven issued with 47 available; by contrast he said the RMF (residential multifamily) zone has roughly 40 people on the wait list while there are approximately 200–215 existing permits (about 25 permits over the cap because many units were grandfathered). "If the cap on permits in the RMF zone was completely lifted, there would be no noticeable or negative impact...but you would start collecting a lot of tax," Wolf said, noting the city could collect a 10% tax on short-term rentals.
Council and staff asked follow-up questions about districting and whether properties should be recategorized; staff offered to add an STR program check-in to the council work-session calendar, with December 2 suggested as a possible date. No policy change was adopted at the meeting; council members expressed interest in reviewing the data before taking action.
