Despite home rule discord, Taos Council reaches accord on other items

Although split votes and bickering over home rule was the primary feature of the Town of Taos Council’s regular meeting on Tuesday evening (Jan. 24), officials also found concord on several mayoral appointments to longstanding town commissions, approved a half dozen grant allocations and heard public comments from a few citizens.

Rolling Still owners Nicole Barady and Liza Barrett dropped by the Council Chambers in order to express their concerns about the town’s short-term rental ordinance, which dictates that, “upon transfer of ownership of a short term rental unit, the short term rental unit permit shall immediately terminate without the necessity of notice.”

Barady told officials that they entered into a real estate contract last year with the owner of the building that houses Rolling Still’s cocktail lounge, as well as an apartment on the second floor that’s been a short-term rental for years.

Except within historic and hotel districts, once the property transaction is complete, a new property owner can simply secure a new short-term rental permit from the town. The ordinance caps the town’s shortterm rental permits at 120, 40 of which, according to Barady’s research, are currently available.

Because the ordinance prohibits the issuance of new permits within historic and hotel districts, Barady and Barrett fear they will be unable to continue to rent the second floor apartment in the same transient manner. Although it was grandfathered in when the ordinance took effect over two years ago, once the women take ownership of the property it won’t be eligible for a short-term rental permit because it’s located in a historic district.

“While we absolutely understand and support the spirit of ordinance 20-008, especially its limitations on short-term rentals in residentially-zoned properties in the historic district, we feel the town made a blanket decision that affects everyone in the historic district regardless of being in a residential or commerciallyzoned area,” like where Rolling Still Lounge is located, Brady said. “And we see this as a detriment to the value of commercial properties in town. There’s a reason for residential zoning and commercial zoning: Commercial zones are designated to generate revenue. Denying historic shortterm rental use in the historic district denies commerce and the ability to generate revenue as property owners age and buildings become available.”

Brady said she and Barrett recognize there is a severe shortage of traditional rental properties in Taos, but indicated that the second floor apartment is “not a suitable property for family or long-term rentals.

“It’s above a cocktail lounge; it has a mini-fridge,” she said. “In all actuality, the property is only suitable for short-term rentals.”

Although he didn’t address Barady and Barrett’s specific concerns at Tuesday’s meeting, Town Manager Andrew Gonzales told councilors that the town is working with Taos County — within which Gonzales said there were at least 1,300 short-term rental units — to create a streamlined approach to fire and safety inspections across jurisdictions. Gonzales was unable to provide a comment for this story by press time regarding Barady and Barrett’s predicament.

In other news, the council voted unanimously to accept a three-year state grant for $281,250 “for the purposes of recruitment and retention of law enforcement officers,” as well as a $26,238 award from the state to cover the cost of required local matching funds in conjunction with federal infrastructure grants. The state also awarded Taos $45,000 to boost the town’s grant management capacity.

In other town news, the council approved its annual Open Meetings Act resolution, scheduling regular town meetings for 4 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. And after a hearing, councilors voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance that removed a requirement that “a certain number of individuals on the commission[s] ... would be residents of the Town of Taos,” as Town Attorney Christopher Stachura explained.

The council appointed Angelo DeHerrera — and reappointed Kenneth Martinez — to the Planning and Zoning Commission; approved Elizabeth Palacio’s appointment to the Historic Preservation Commission; and granted Maestas’ appointment of Scott McAdams to the Finance Committee.

“The thought at that point was to increase the level of participation in providing those appointments at the expense of dictating the residency of a certain number of them,” Stachura said. “The Historic Preservation [Commission] had no problems with that; they’ve approved [the ordinance] as is. The Planning and Zoning Commission were concerned that the residency of the appointees might be of greater consideration than who was making the individual appointments.”

During the council’s contentious discussion on home rule later in the meeting, Councilor Nathaniel Evans repeated his request — which Mayor Pascual Maestas has shot down each time it has come up — that a simple majority of the town’s nascent Home Rule Commission be Taos residents. Councilor Darien Fernandez suggested that Evans’ vote to lift the residency requirement for the Planning and Zoning Commission was in contradiction with his demand that at least some members of the Home Rule Charter Commission be town residents.

“What’s the difference between what we have just done with historic preservation and planning and zoning, and what you’re proposing for a requirement for the makeup of this commission?” Fernandez asked Evans.

“Planning and zoning and historic preservation are upholding the code that is already written,” Evans replied without hesitation. “That’s the distinction. Rewriting the code for the town — there should be people who have a stake in the game.”