Santa Fe County is considering an extension on its moratorium on non-owner occupied short-term rentals.
The moratorium ends on November 25th, but county officials say they could use more time to work out the details of legislation.
A report was presented to the County Commission that offered suggestions on what regulations need to be in place.
On Tuesday night County Commissioners approved a Request Authorization to Publish Title and General Summary.
That means the possibility of the extended moratorium is out there but has not been finalized or approved. The extension would be for three months until February of 2024.
Commission Chair Anna Hansen says that would give County officials time to work out legislation.
“This has been a huge undertaking for staff. This is a tremendous amount of work and they have done an outstanding job and I want to thank them for the hard work on this,” she said. “I think it’s incumbent upon us to give them that time to integrate what we’ve gotten in this report ans take on this moratorium and allow them to do the work in an environment that is not creating more work for them all of a sudden.”
At issue are problems that have been occuring at the non-owner occupied short-term rentals and the county needed better regulations to control them.
Commissioner Justin Greene voted against the measure. He says he opposes any extension of the moratorium saying the end date was a promise to landowners in the county who may be considering using a home as a short-term rental like an AirBnb and the rules shouldn’t be changed with only a few weeks to go.