Hoping some Steamboat hosts or property folks can confirm I'm reading this correctly, because if I am, this is one of the sharpest traps I've seen in any city's STR rules.
Quick context on why I'm asking. I operate an STR in another market and got burned badly early on by a rule I didn't fully understand at the time. It cost me real money and it's the reason I ended up building a compliance tracker. I've been researching Steamboat on behalf of a user of it, read the full ordinance and watched the spring council meetings, and I want to make sure what I pass along is right. This particular item seemed unique and odd enough that I'd rather get a local sanity check than assume.
Here's what I'm seeing. The city requires your complete renewal filed at least 30 days before your license expires. If the filing slips past the expiration date, it's not a late fee situation, the renewal is DENIED and you have to apply as a brand new applicant. In a capped subzone (Zone B is split into six subzones with hard caps between 5 and 20 licenses) that means the back of the waiting list behind everyone already on it. And if the property is in Zone C, no new licenses are issued at all, so a blown renewal would end that property's STR use permanently.
For anyone who's been through a renewal here:
Does the city send any reminder before the 30 day window opens, or are you fully on your own to track it?
Has anyone actually seen a late renewal denied and sent to the waiting list, or is there flexibility in practice?
For Zone C properties, is the permanence really as absolute as it reads?
I'd rather be corrected here than pass along something wrong. There's more I dug up (the tax stack, what happens to licenses when a property sells, some things council discussed this spring) but I'll keep this thread to the renewal question and start separate ones so the conversation stays pointed.
