Planning board turns down vacation rental request

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls City-County planning board last week voted 6-2 against allowing a developer to turn half of a proposed apartment complex into short-term rentals.

Developer Toby Gilchrist initially proposed building 36 apartments on a 2.25 acre lot on Meadow Lake Boulevard near the intersection of Best Way Drive.

The planning board previously approved that project through both a zone change and a conditional use permit last year.

But since then, the cost of the development has gone up significantly, Gilchrist told the board, from a little more than $5 million to $8.2 million.

In order to make it work, he asked the board to allow him to turn up to 18 of the units into condominiums at market prices which could, in turn, be rented out as short-term rentals by their respective owners. In short, they would likely be investment properties.

The current market rate for condos in Columbia Falls is about $500,000 to $600,000.

The remaining units would stay apartments under Gilchrist’s plan, though rented out at market rates.

During the public hearing, almost every resident spoke out against Gilchrist’s plan. The arguments against noted that the city needs workforce housing, not more vacation rentals.

The city currently has about 100 vacation rentals under its jurisdiction, while workers increasingly can’t find affordable rentals.

But city attorney Justin Breck cautioned the board against making the argument against the short-term rentals, as state law currently considers them to still be residential properties.

So planning board members took another tack — that changing the apartments into short-term rentals fundamentally altered the character of the neighborhood.

Many board members also noted they would have never approved the zone change to begin with, had they thought it would have been turned into short term rentals.

“I would have looked at the project differently knowing it was short term rental (development),” board member Sam Kavanagh said. “I do think it changes the character of the neighborhood.”

Vacation rentals, particularly that many together, in essence, is commercial use, most planning board members concurred.

Board members Mike Shepard and Steve Duffy voted in favor of allowing the change, while the remaining six did not.

Shepard argued that at least the city was getting more apartments, while turning it down entirely might not see any built.

“Are we overlooking what we really need in the city?” Shepard asked.

The parcel of land is in somewhat of a zoning no man’s land. To the north it’s zoned single family residential, while to the south it’s zoned industrial. Gilchrist specifically asked that the building to the north be allowed short-term rental status, since the south building would border the industrial site, which is currently piles of fill and equipment.

The matter now goes to the Columbia Falls City Council for final review. The council will ultimately determine the fate of the application.