In Anaconda: Interest grows in tourist homes

By The Montana Standard Staff - 10/19/2008

Joanne Garrels owns a vacation home at 24 Washoe Park Road in Anaconda. She fixed it up to use as a vacation home until she can move into it permanently. Garrels is waiting to see what the planning department does in the way of regulations before she takes guests. Photos by Erin Nicholes / The Montana Standard

By Erin Nicholes of The Montana Standard ANACONDA — When Joanne Garrels bought a fixer-upper in Anaconda recently, she needed a way to pay the home's utilities until she was ready to permanently move in.

"I wanted the house to pay for itself, but I didn't want to have full-time renters so I could continue to work on the place," she said of the 1940s house she bought on Washoe Park Road.

Garrels, an Anaconda native returning after living in Alaska, found her middle ground in the vacation rental market. She's planning to rent the home to people visiting Anaconda during the tourist seasons.

"Its location is really adaptable for people to stay there," she said.

From Goosetown to Georgetown Lake, people are sprucing up old homes for rental to visitors, creating a growing vacation-rental market throughout the area.

"A couple more have popped up and staff have told me they've gotten some telephone inquiries," said Bob Horne, a county- contracted planner.

But those following the vacation-rental path to profit have encountered a recent hurdle: Current regulations don't actually allow tourist homes in Anaconda's residential neighborhoods. Now planning officials are examining new rules that may allow the homes, with conditions aimed at protecting the perks of traditional neighborhoods.

"We've got to make the decision or are we going to allow them in residential neighborhoods or are we not," Horne said. "Where we're headed right now is to allow them through the special use permit process." Despite the existing rules, several vacation rentals are already operating in residential neighborhoods, and have been for some time. The homes are allowed in commercial districts.

The Tuscany House, a vacation rental in a residential area on Front Street, has been consistently booked during the visitor season for two years, owner Mary Jane Rayfield said.

"During the summer, I probably have it booked eight to 10 weeks, then the rest of the year I average maybe one week a month," she said. "People are coming to Anaconda to stay here, not just passing through." Anaconda's history, Georgetown Lake's popularity and other attractions are luring visitors for overnight stays, and vacation homes present economic opportunity for Anaconda, she said.

The homes help absorb overflow when local motels are full, Garrels said, retaining overnight guests who might otherwise be lost to nearby towns. Keeping them in Anaconda benefits local shops and restaurants, she said.

While acknowledging the economic perks, planning officials said vacation homes have some negative impacts that need to be managed.

An abundance of unregulated vacation homes could threaten traditional neighborhoods, which are an asset, Horne said.

"There's a potential that they can pretty severely impact a residential area, that's what we're trying to deal with," Horne said, adding some neighbors have complained about existing homes. "We don't want to ruin stable residential neighborhoods to do that. Residential areas are one of the best economic development tools you could have." Rules under consideration would allow vacation homes in residential areas, but would set standards for parking, occupant limits and other things.

"With reasonable sideboards on things like parking and the number of guests, tourist homes could be entirely appropriate for some residential areas of Anaconda," county planner Connie Ternes-Daniels said in a news release.

While vacation-home owners seemed open to regulations, they expressed apprehension about excessive restrictions.

"We're licensed by the state," Rayfield said. "The state has had control by tourist homes. We are licensed, we are inspected by the sanitarian and the fire department. Now the county decided that they need to have their own rules." The rules must allow homeowners to exercise property rights while also protecting renters and neighbors, Garrels said.

"I don't particularly want to be told what to do with my property," Garrels said. "But when the public is paying to stay someplace they have to have certain standards." The planning board will take up the latest proposed regulations on Oct. 20. Ultimately, the county commission will choose whether to adopt new rules.

Reporter Erin Nicholes may be reached at erin.nicholes@lee.net.