Summit County nightly rental license moratorium vote delayed, public hearing to be held

Summit County has the most short-term rentals of any county in Utah. Photo: Airbnb

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — The Summit County Council delayed a vote on an ordinance that would have established a seven-month moratorium on short-term rental licenses in the unincorporated county.

A public hearing will be held next week on the issue at the Ledges Event Center in Coalville at 6 p.m. It was noted at the meeting that license renewal is in January every year, therefore it would not affect existing licenses.

Dozens of residents against the ordinance were present at the meeting, at times shouting over council members. The council did not take public comment because it was not noticed. Councilman Roger Armstrong also felt that because the crowd was skewed, public input wouldn’t be representative of all opinions.

The council has expressed interest in drafting new rules to contain the proliferation of short-term rentals, and the moratorium would be established to avoid an influx of nightly rental licenses during the period before any new rules are enacted.

Year-to-date 2022, Summit County has issued 916 such licenses. For comparison, 699 were issued throughout the entire calendar year of pre-Covid 2019.

Summit County leads the state, with 21.5% of total housing units being short-term rentals, according to the University of Utah.