Buena Vista Just Rewrote Its Short-Term Rental Rules. The Caps Aren't What Will Decide Your Deal.

If you're closing on a Buena Vista property this month with plans to rent it short-term, you're walking into a moment where two clocks are running out at almost the same time. The town's eight-month moratorium on new short-term rental applications is set to lift around the end of September. A brand-new ordinance rewriting how those licenses get capped by zoning district takes effect roughly 30 days after its August 25 passage, which lands in almost the identical window. Buyers who assume they're catching the market at the moment it reopens are actually catching it at the moment it changes shape.

The headline numbers in that new ordinance, ranging from a 1% cap in the town's lowest-density residential zone up to 11% in its densest mixed-use district, are the part most people will fixate on. They're also, for a lot of buyers, close to beside the point. The exemptions written into the ordinance and the ownership-tenure rules that sit alongside it will do more to determine whether your specific property can become a legal short-term rental than the zone percentage ever will. That's the part worth understanding before you write an offer.

Two Deadlines, One Window

Buena Vista's Board of Trustees passed an emergency moratorium on January 13, 2026, freezing the acceptance, processing, and approval of every new STR license application in town. The stated goal was never to end short-term rentals in Buena Vista. It was to buy the town time to rebuild its licensing structure while a seven-member Short-Term Rental Committee worked through recommendations.

That work produced Ordinance 14, Series 2026, which trustees approved on a narrow 3-2 vote on August 25. It replaces the town's old system of flat, townwide license categories with percentage caps tied to zoning district, and it takes effect about 30 days after passage. The moratorium itself is structured to run through at least September 30. In practice, that means the application window is reopening at almost the exact moment the rules governing what you can apply for have changed underneath you.

What the New Caps Actually Say

The ordinance sets non-primary-residence rental caps by zone as follows:

The town's own estimate put short-term rentals at roughly 13% of Buena Vista's housing stock before this ordinance passed, with individual zones running far higher. Planning staff had identified about 195 licenses across an estimated 1,636 residential structures, and the mixed-use zones were already running in the 22% to 28% range. Town officials expect the new caps to bring the townwide share down toward 9% over time, with the total license count drifting from around 246 toward roughly 166 as the market adjusts.

That's a meaningful contraction, but it only applies to non-primary-residence rentals. Which brings up the part of this ordinance that actually decides most outcomes.

The Three Ways Around the Cap

Before you assume a property is capped out, check whether it falls into one of the ordinance's carve-outs. Three categories sit outside the percentage limits entirely:

• Primary residences. Anyone licensing all or part of a home they actually live in faces no percentage cap at all, regardless of zone.
• Properties on East Main Street (the MU-MS zone). These are exempt from the percentage cap, though they still need a special use permit from the town, a separate approval step that doesn't disappear just because the zone is exempt.
• South Main PUD. Properties in this planned unit development also sit outside the percentage cap structure.

A property's street address can matter more than its zone letter. Two homes a block apart, one inside the MU-2 cap and one inside the exempt East Main corridor, can face entirely different licensing realities even though they'd look identical on a spreadsheet of median prices.

The Clock That Outlasts the Zone

Even where capacity exists, ownership timing gets in the way for a specific kind of buyer. Anyone who lives outside Chaffee County, or who holds a property through an entity like a trust or LLC, has to own that property for at least two years before applying for a license. That rule doesn't pause for a reopened moratorium or a favorable zone. A buyer who closes today and plans to rent the home short-term as an out-of-county owner is looking at a two-year runway before that plan can start, no matter what the cap says.

On top of that, Buena Vista's out-of-county license pool is frozen at 119 and has been full, with a waitlist, since at least September 2025. In-county owners renting a property that isn't their primary residence face a separate, smaller cap of 30 licenses. And regardless of who owns it, no single structure can carry more than three STR licenses. For an investor thinking about a small multi-unit building as a way to spread risk across several short-term rentals, that per-structure ceiling is worth knowing before it becomes the detail that reshapes a return projection after closing.

What Happens to Licenses Already Over Cap

Some zones, particularly the mixed-use districts, are already running above the new caps on paper. The ordinance doesn't force those existing licenses out. A property with a license in good standing can keep renewing it even in an over-cap zone. What it can't do is transfer.

That single word does a lot of work. It means a buyer purchasing a property with an existing, grandfathered STR license in an over-cap zone can't simply assume the license comes with the deed. No new licenses will be issued in that zone until the count drops below the cap, and the existing license holder's ability to renew doesn't automatically extend to whoever buys the property next. For a buyer whose entire investment thesis rests on acquiring an already-licensed short-term rental, this is the clause to have your closing attorney or the town's planning department confirm in writing before you're under contract, not after.

How Buena Vista Compares to Salida

For investors weighing Buena Vista against Salida, the structural difference is worth naming plainly. Salida is not operating under a licensing moratorium. Its citywide cap sits at 309 licenses split across four zone categories, a larger and differently structured pool than Buena Vista's. Earlier in 2026, Salida's own reporting showed meaningful room still open in that pool, a sign of just how much tighter Buena Vista's numbers already were even before the new zoning caps took effect. Whether that gap has narrowed since is worth confirming directly with Salida before treating it as settled, since license pools move as owners apply and renew. But the structural contrast, one town frozen and recalibrating, one town open and operating under its existing caps, is the kind of thing worth factoring into where you look first.

Before You Make an Offer on a Buena Vista STR Candidate

A few questions worth answering before you get too far into a contract:

• What zoning district is the property actually in, and does that zone still have room under the new caps?
• Does the property qualify for one of the three exemptions: primary residence, East Main Street MU-MS, or South Main PUD?
• If it currently holds an STR license, is that license in an over-cap zone, and is it explicitly non-transferable to a new owner?
• If you'd be an out-of-county or entity buyer, does the two-year ownership clock work with your investment timeline?
• Does the structure already carry the maximum three licenses allowed, particularly relevant for any multi-unit property?

None of these questions show up in a listing sheet. They show up in a conversation with the town's planning department, and in the language of Ordinance 14 itself, which is worth reading before an offer, not after.

FAQ

When exactly does the new ordinance take effect? Trustees passed it August 25, 2026, and it takes effect roughly 30 days later, putting it in force around the same time the town's application moratorium is set to lift near the end of September.

If I buy a home that's already licensed as an STR, do I get to keep operating it? Only if the license itself is transferable, and in zones already over their new cap, it isn't. Confirm the license's status and transferability directly with the town before assuming it conveys with the sale.

Can I rent out my primary residence without worrying about any of this? Licensing all or part of a home you actually live in isn't subject to the percentage cap at all, regardless of zone. It's a different category from a non-primary-residence rental.

Are the rules the same outside town limits, in unincorporated Chaffee County? No. The county sets its own separate limit on unincorporated STR licenses, distinct from the Town of Buena Vista's zoning-based system. Confirm which jurisdiction a property sits in before assuming either set of rules applies.

Buena Vista's short-term rental landscape just got more particular, not simpler, and that particularity is exactly where local guidance earns its keep. If you're weighing an investment property here, or trying to figure out whether a specific address still has room under these new rules, Julie Kersting at 8z Real Estate can walk the zoning map and the ordinance with you before you're locked into a contract that assumes more than the town will currently allow. Work With Julie to get the local read before you make the offer.