Keystone is inviting all and anyone to speak your minds about short-term rentals in the town. Four sessions over several weeks will be held at Town Hall. Please go the Keystone’s website to take the survey and/or register for one (or all four) of the sessions that promise to be the same agenda for all four. You are welcome to attend or to view the meetings virtually. Best to attend for many reasons.

This feedback will be used to either create their own short-term rental program or go outside of the town with a online company that has never been to Keystone as the county does with Host Compliance.

I believe the town should do a bit of both. During the town’s first year, it remained with the county’s ordinance and the annual permit fee of $285. However, they purchased two software programs, one for current permits to easily renew in Keystone by Oct. 1. Fortunately they included the homeowners association, which makes finding the short-term rentals easier for hotline calls. Unfortunately, they didn’t sync this one to the 2nd hotline complaint software, and many calls never were found — so no closure. If furious residents disliked the county’s Host Compliance, they hate Keystone’s hotline program. 

My idea is to allow the short-term rental hosts to manage themselves. Maybe a volunteer short-term rental commission hires a liaison to give all second-home owner hosts a seat at the table. The liaison must live in Keystone and have complete control of the hotlines when synced to renewal software. March, our busiest month, had two calls! One was a daytime noise call, and the second wanted to know if they leave now will the catch their flight! We need a knowledgable short-term rental person to make this work.