When my husband and I purchased our home at Star Valley Ranch a dozen years ago we were drawn to the property by the amazing view but also the incredible peace and quiet of the neighborhood around it. If you’ve never been to the Ranch the town is spread out over a five-mile area on the eastern side of Star Valley that hugs the tree-line of Bridger-Teton National Forest beginning south of Cedar Creek Canyon and extending north beyond Prater Canyon. The hustle and bustle of the golf course, pool, tennis and pickle ball courts, as well as the clubhouse and Town Hall are located in what I refer to as the “main-side” of the municipality which is a good three miles away from the serenity found on the northern end of the Ranch. Or, at least, the serenity that used to exist there.
Over the past three years there has been a steady up-tick in the use of Ranch homes as short-term rental properties. The folks renting these properties on third-party venues such as Airbnb and VRBO are sometimes residents that simply have an extra room they’d like to realize a little extra income from. Sometimes, but less often, the properties are owned and rented by part-time residents of the Ranch; the ubiquitous snowbirds. However, more often than not these days short-term rentals on the Ranch are being offered by folks that don’t live in Wyoming at all. It’s this latter sub-set that has largely been responsible for the recent outcry by full-time Ranch residents who have had to deal with an ever-increasing range of issues created by vacation-renters behaving badly.
In my own experience, I can tell you that when my husband and I purchased our home there were no short-term rental properties around us. Now, there are five (soon to be six) four of which I can see from my house. Of these, four are entire homes provided for rent by out-of-state owners. Since the explosion of these vacation rentals in our bucolic area of the Ranch my husband and I have routinely had to deal with trespass by snow machines and horses, pets running at large, ATVs and dirt bikes speeding up and down the road (going well over the posted 25 mph speed limit), and excessive noise going late into the night.
Interestingly, it sounds like the issues we’ve had from short-term rentals in our area of the Ranch(especially the past two-years) is far less invasive than what folks on the main-side of Town have been dealing with. Ranch residents initially took their complaints to the Star Valley Ranch Association, however, when no solutions were forthcoming from the homeowner’s association it was only a matter of time before the Town itself had to act. That action took the form of a Short-Term Rental Ordinance.
First put forward for public comment in the fall of 2021 it took 6-months before the ordinance was finally approved in March 2022 and officially became part of the Town code. Along the way there was significant push-back from short-term rental property owners on the content of the ordinance. Having what I considered to be a vested concern on the outcome of the proposed ordinance I made it a point to provide comment to the draft ordinance and also attend council workshops and formal council meetings whenever the ordinance was on the agenda. It was an overall enlightening process.
While I certainly had my own personal reasons for wanting to see some mechanism (such as an ordinance) put in place to provide recourse in those instances when ill-behaved short-term rental visitors impacted the tranquility of the neighborhood, I also came to realize that all perspectives are simply a product of “where you sit”. For some short-term rental owners at the Ranch, who have likely been renting their property to friends and family for decades, the Town trying to suddenly regulate their activity was a slap in the face. Or worse, just government getting in the way of individual property rights. Additionally, is it fair (or even legal) to hold short-term rental property owners responsible for the behavior of their guests? The answer to the latter (at least from lawyers) is most likely – “No”.
However, there are also broader concerns. For example, what is the greater effect on housing costs due to individuals or investors buying homes in popular vacation destinations (like ours) simply to rent them out? The past two-years of COVID-flight have likely only exacerbated the latter problem at the Ranch and across Star Valley in general. A recent canvassing of Airbnb and VRBO identifies about 40 short-term rentals now active on the Ranch. Maybe that isn’t a lot when you compare our town with its official census population of 1,866, to say, Island Park, Idaho — population 286 and short-term rental listings that max out the display of 300+ on third-party rental websites.
At the end of the day, affected residents and short-term rental property owners at the Ranch were able to come to an agreement and Ordinance 2021-24 is now on the books. Neither side got everything they wanted, however, that’s what compromise is all about. Thus, I’m hopeful moving forward that the essential character of the Town can stay intact. That said, I’m not deleting the phone numbers for the Lincoln County Sheriff and Town of Star Valley Ranch Special Municipal Officer from my speed-dial just yet.
This column was originally published in the Star Valley Independent on 18 May 2022.
Ruzena Rok writes about Star Valley Ranch. You can reach her by email her at: Close2Home307@gmail.com
Why didn’t your article inform us of the official ordinance 2021-24?