Dillon Town Council gave early indication of its plans to address housing concerns surrounding multifamily units. Updated building codes and insufficient parking sparked the conversation.

“We’re going toward some sort of paid, overnight parking,” Mayor Carloyn Skowrya said. Parking passes for long-term renters could be considered, she said, while short-term renters might pay a daily rate. The council will return to the conversation at a future meeting to hash out what that might look like and other steps it may take to address concerns. Tuesday’s conversation largely focused on outlining the problems and updating councilors on the situation.

The topic stems from the town’s June 9 work session. It read an amendment to prevent homes from having two kitchens without one connected to an accessory dwelling unit. Councilors asked what would happen to units already built with two kitchens, to which Skowyra and Dillon Finance Director Carri McDonnel said it would come up at a later work session due to its complexities.

“We’re not making people take kitchens out, but we’re also not allowing people to add second kitchens,” Skowyra said Tuesday. McDonnel said town staff will look into ways of grandfathering older units in to meet current code requirements.

Town staff said the situation involves five three-bedroom condominium complexes: Yacht Club Condos, Lakeview Condominiums, Summit Yacht Club, Lodge at Lake Dillon Condos and Timberline Condominiums. The condominiums were built in the 1970s, a staff report said, and were built with two exterior access points. At the time, Dillon operated off an older, now outdated, building code.

Whether the units have two kitchens or not, the town said it found some owners had rented short term or long term in both sides at the same time. Dillon’s short-term rental regulations allow only one license per unit. It’s possible some three bedroom units have not been split legally in order to allow for two licenses, the staff memo stated.

Beyond short-term rental concerns, the units create possible safety concerns and zoning violations, the staff memo said. Dillon Municipal Code, along with the International Building Code, do not allow owners to split two units from one in a multifamily unit.

Additionally, water and sewer fees are assessed differently if a multifamily unit were broken up. A three bedroom is assessed at 1.05 EQRs, the staff memo said, and if a unit were subdivided to a two bed, one bath and and one bed, one bath it would be assessed 1.45 EQRs. Equivalent Residential Unit, or EQR, is a measure of the water required for particular unit types.

Parking, another concern, is also limited. Most of the named units were built with one spot per unit, the town said. Under the current code, a three-bedroom unit would require two parking spaces. If split into two units, a two-bedroom unit would require two parking spaces and the one-bedroom unit would require 1.5 spaces.

“We can we can work with kitchens or kitchenettes. We can figure something out. But where are you going to put the cars? That’s the issue,” Councilor Tony Scalise said.

In the 1970s, several multifamily, three-bedroom units with dual uses and a lock-off concept were built, according to a Dillon staff memo. Dillon allowed two concepts for the owner to lock off one bedroom for their personal items while they rented the main portion. The second concept allowed for hotel use in the third bedroom while the owner used the main portion of the unit.
Since then, according to the memo, some units have added second full kitchens in the lock off area, creating two complete units without town approval. The town’s current land use code was adopted in the 1990s.
The town’s Walker Parking Study determined those units were built with one parking space per unit.

The town said it discussed multifamily units in 2019 and identified two issues: units with insufficient parking and unpaid water and sewer fees. The town took no action then, and now the issue has grown to encompass short- and long-term rentals, the town memo said.