Dear Owners,
Thanks to Mollie for setting this forum up. With this forum, and the results of the new survey for 2022 as linked in Mollie’s opening post above, I hope to foster additional productive dialogue on the important issue of short term rental (STR) activity at Snowater.
As of today, I do not think the Snowater Board or the Snowater Community at large has formed a consensus or even a majority view on the issue of STR. Many owners purchased units at a time when the STR activity at Snowater was far lower than it is today, and thus feel that the emergence of STRs the “sharing economy” have upset their expectations for the Snowater experience as a quiet, uncrowded resort getaway. On the other hand, other owners purchased with an express expectation of being able to rent out their unit to defray the costs of dues and/or create income. For these owners, restricting rentals would feel unfair and potentially cause financial burden.
At the end of 2021, I proposed a “licensing” model which I felt best reconciled some of the competing interests. The model I proposed was an annual “licensing” model that would limit the number of full share units that can rent in any given year, as well as cap the number of nights such units could rent, while overall permitting the same volume of renting as Snowater currently experiences. The basic idea of this plan was to provide a mechanism to “freeze” the rental activity at its current levels. I explained that in order to pass this licensing proposal, each building would need 60% of their voting share to be in favor. The feedback I received was mixed. From what I could tell anecdotally, several buildings would pass the proposal, and several buildings would not. I do not think a “piecemeal” or “building-by- building” approach is in the interest of the community.
As President of the Snowater Association, I am open to ideas and encourage owners to speak to each other about this issue. Perhaps this forum is a good place for those discussions. Why do STRs concern you or not concern you? What will Snowater look like if our STR activity continues to steadily increase? Is STR activity different than “friends and family” sharing activity in your mind? How so?
For me, the STR activity at Snowater is a concern for the future, but not a current crisis. At today’s STR levels, I still find Snowater to be a peaceful place with well-used, but generally available common areas and amenities for me and my young family. But I do have concerns that our pools, spas, parking, septic systems, and other common areas are not amenable to an ever increasing amount of occupancy and usage. Some criticize the fact that the Snowater Board can’t “prove” that STRs are responsible for increased usage or costs. This is true. Unfortunately, with today’s tools, Snowater does not have the ability quantify or attribute certain usage or costs to any one usage type because we don’t track owner usage and our FOB system is not a viable way to back out this information. So for now, we are left with the survey, this forum, reason, and good faith.
I look forward to your views and contributions.
Sincerely,
Phil Decker
SA President 2022
