Moab City and Grand County passed separate but similar ordinances intended to “pump the brakes” on overnight accommodations. The legislative bodies were each nearing the end of a six-month moratorium on new overnight lodging, and they opted to ban the businesses in code.
But this move, according to local officials, is temporary. The city and county want time to create development standards for new overnight lodging. They could require things like mixed-use development or energy efficiencies.
"I don’t believe that the city ever wanted to put a hard stop on overnight rentals, I think we wanted to add some standards that more reflect what our community wants to see, the kind of developments that we want to see, and we want to see a more diverse mix of uses," said city council member Tawny Knuteson-Boyd.
"We couldn’t re-write code and still have buildings going up at the rate that they were – or at least big hotels going up at the rate that they were," she said. "So it really is just - it’s just putting the breaks on, pedaling back a little bit and giving us time to get those standards in place."
Both city and county leaders say they hope that by slowing down and creating overnight development standards, they’ll help address impacts associated with the lodging industry, including the availability of long-term residential housing and limitations on economic diversity.
