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Letter to the editor: Breckenridge homeowners will pay the price of the short-term rental cap

Robert Daisley
Breckenridge and Tampa, Florida

A Summit Daily News article from Sept. 29 reported that Breckenridge Mayor Eric Mamula found reading letters on the short-term rental cap “painful.” The question remains, however, as to whether the mayor understands the full importance of what the town has wrought. Does the mayor understand that prohibiting the sale of residences to prospective buyers who might be interested in short-term rentals will cause each and every homeowner in Breckenridge to lose tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in the value of their properties?

By way of example: Say I purchase a restaurant in town serving family fare, pizza and also beer, wine and liquor. Let’s call it Rob’s. Several years into my ownership, the mayor and council decide that having too many liquor-licensed restaurants “diminishes the character” of Breckenridge. So, over objection, they pass an ordinance capping the number of such licenses and making them nontransferable. Rob’s may continue to sell beer, wine and liquor. But if I decide to sell, the new owner will not be able to obtain a liquor license upon purchase. A prospective new owner might sell pizza and wings, but they couldn’t sell beer.

Now, I may never want to sell Rob’s. In the short term, I may even benefit from less competition. But I would lose a boatload of value in my business, and that would be painful indeed.



Mr. mayor, respectfully, you just caused the homeowners of Breckenridge to lose millions of dollars in our property values with one stroke of the pen. All I can say is, “That’s incredible.”


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