Steamboat Springs City Council will take its first vote on Tuesday, Jan. 4, on whether to extend the moratorium preventing property owners from applying for new vacation home rental permits until June 30.

Planning Director Rebecca Bessey asked the council to extend the moratorium at a December 2021 meeting, after members suggested the planning commission should examine more ways to regulate short-term rentals than what was originally asked of them.

A previous council first put the moratorium in place in June 2021, after members agreed that short-term rentals were having a negative impact on the city’s character and housing stock.

Since then, the moratorium has been extended several times. Council last discussed the issue at an informal work session and did not take a vote, but six of the seven members expressed interest in extending the moratorium.

The ordinance will require support from at least four out of seven members to pass on first reading. If a majority agrees to pass the measure, members are expected to vote again next week on second reading.

Those interested in joining the meeting may do so in Centennial Hall at 5 p.m. tonight or on Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/985289877.