The city of Red Lodge is discussing putting a cap on short-term rental properties within city limits.
The vote deciding on the proposed cap is scheduled for June 27 at the Red Lodge City Council meeting. If approved, the cap would take effect June 30.
As a community, Red Lodge gets a lot of its revenue from tourism and that's why Chelsea Toupin, the owner of Red Lodge Reservations, opposes the change.
"We have a very sensitive economy here that does thrive off of tourism," Toupin said. "That’s not saying that’s the only industry here, but tourism is the backbone that holds it together."
Toupin, who manages 19 short-term rentals, many within city limits, also said that while the change would clearly harm her business, she believes it'll harm much more than that.
"It's the rights of the people in this area, it’s the business owners in this area, and it’s just the life and blood of this whole community,” Toupin said.
The current proposal would allow for some growth before the cap comes into effect. Red Lodge currently has 180 short-term rentals in city limits and the resolution states that 50 percent more units can be added.
Red Lodge Mayor Kristen Cogswell said that the decision isn't final, and that the discussion is largely to get ahead of any potential problems.
"I think the goal was to examine the issue and try to put some guard rails on it," Cogswell said. "We recognize the revenue that short-term rentals bring to the community, and we aren't trying to ruin that."
Cogswell also said that the allowed growth is an important part of the discussion, and that the 50 percent increase is significant.
"Honestly, we’ve given it a pretty comfortable margin so it would allow some growth and then we’ll have more data to look at it,” Cogswell said.
Cogswell said that the primary goal is to find balance between the number of homes in Red Lodge for visitors and for people to live there full-time.
"We just want to make sure we have the tools in place to continue to guide the growth of this community,” Cogswell said.
Toupin argues that the decision impacts more than that, including property rights and the entire Red Lodge economy.
“To me, a cap, you’ve seen it happen in a lot of other tourism communities, and it can have a pretty negative impact on the local economy,” Toupin said.
And she also said that Red Lodge's economy can also be fragile and relies heavily on tourism to drive it.
"We already have so many different risk factors. I think trying to limit something that already has natural limitations to it, it just seems like a risky idea,” Toupin said.
