A snow bank at von Trapp Lodge. File photo by Gordon Miller/Stowe Reporter This story by Aaron Calvin was first published in the Stowe Reporter on Jan. 15, 2026. As the Stowe Selectboard continues to consider a cap on the number of short-term rentals, the town’s major resorts are arguing th at they should be exempted from further regulation. Consideration of a short-term rental cap began last fall, when the planning commission sent a letter to the selectboard recommending such a regulation, but with the exemption of short-term rentals in zoning districts dedicated to the preservation of land owned by resorts like Spruce Peak, Topnotch Resort and von Trapp Family Lodge — properties the planning commission noted were never meant to house year-round Stowe residents. In a September letter to town manager Charles Safford and shared with the selectboard from assistant manager Will Fricke, condominiums were identified as the predominant housing structure of short-term rentals in Stowe, making up nearly half of the 1,039 rentals that have signed up for the short-term rental registry that went live last May. Over two-thirds of those condos are located within the six resort complexes: Spruce Peak, Topnotch Resort, Mountainside Resort, Stonybrook, Village Green and Notchbrook, according to Fricke. Overall, Fricke said, properties in zoning areas designated for skiing and resort operations, which include von Trapp Family Lodge, Spruce Peak and Topnotch, account for 360 short-term rental registrations, which is about one third of total registrations and approximately 60% of units in those zoning areas. Sam Gaines, president of the Mount Mansfield Company, which manages Spruce Peak, has advocated that short-term rentals at the resort should have been exempted from registry entirely, and they certainly shouldn’t be included in a cap, and if the town wants to install a short-term rental cap, they have little choice but to ensure areas like Spruce Peak are exempt. “What most people think of when they think of a short-term rental, it’s something that is taking place in a residence, a residential dwelling unit, as opposed to something that’s taking place in a lodging unit, which most people would just consider to be a hotel stay,” Gaines said. “While I’m appreciative of the carve out, I’m not sure that the selectboard has another option.” AWH Partners, the hospitality group that owns Topnotch Resort, was also eager to ensure its properties were left out. In a letter sent to the selectboard last November, the group wanted to make sure they were exempted alongside timeshares and skiing adjacent complexes like Spruce Peak. Topnotch is in the midst of constructing new buildings that include 31 new condos, which “are intended to be included in the resort’s hotel inventory when not in use by their owners,” the partnership’s general counsel, Nicholas Mayer, wrote. “The nature and use of these units has been central to Topnotch Resort’s business plan from the beginning,” Mayer wrote. “Should the Selectboard’s proposed ordinance, as we understand it, not exempt Topnotch Resort from STR limitations, the expansion project will become immediately irretrievably infeasible.” To avoid this “catastrophe,” Mayer called on the board to exempt them as well. Selectboard chair Paco Aumand emphasized that discussions of any short-term rental cap are only in the draft stage and still ongoing, but the board is actively looking at determining “which housing units might not develop into long-term housing units if they were further included in an (short-term rental) cap regulation.” The board will further discuss this potential regulation at a public hearing to be held on Feb. 11 at the Akeley Memorial Building in Stowe. Splitting rentals Over half of all condo short-term rentals in Stowe are located at Spruce Peak alone, according to Fricke, and two-thirds of those condos are located at The Lodge at Spruce Peak. When a visitor to Stowe books a room at The Lodge, the process may not be much different than renting a traditional hotel room. But what they’re really renting is technically a short-term rental. The Trapp Family Lodge. Photo courtesy of the Trapp Family Lodge These rooms aren’t regulated like a short-term rental in a single-family home by the state of Vermont. While stand-alone short rentals have to pay a 3% surcharge tax on their bookings, the Vermont Department of Taxes views rentals within a complex like The Lodge differently, exempting them from the surcharge tax because they’re regulated under the Vermont Department of Health like a traditional hotel. Fewer than 20% of the condominiums or single-family homes within the Spruce Peak complex but outside of The Lodge are registered as short-term rentals with the town, according to Fricke, and Spruce Peak is far from the only resort or hotel maintaining short-term rentals like traditional hotel rooms, but it is a prime example of the spectrum of short-term rentals operating in nuanced ways in Stowe, both within and adjacent to resort complexes and hotels. While it’s relatively easy to excise the resorts in zoning areas identified specifically for resort and ski-lodging stays from further regulation, the number of condos being let as short-term rentals while their owners are often elsewhere offers a tougher challenge. According to Fricke, of the 930 short-term rentals registered without a homestead declaration — meaning the property is maintained as a rental or second home — about 600 are not in either of those zoning areas and are not timeshares. Condo associations outside of resorts have begun clamoring for their own exemptions. Among the slew of letters protesting any further regulation of short-term rentals from property managers whose livelihood depends on the growth of that market in Stowe, these associations have also written to make their objections heard. Of the 55 condominium complexes in Stowe, 37 have at least one short-term registered with the town, according to Fricke’s analysis. A handful of letters sent by owners at the Mountainside Resort, a condo association off Cottage Club Road, make the case that those properties, too, were never intended for year-round residence, were always meant to be rented out while their primary owners were away, would impact the value of real estate throughout the town if not exempted and function similarly to properties being considered for exemption at places like Spruce Peak and Topnotch. Mark Vandenberg — who is on the board of trustees at Mountainside and owns Sun and Ski Inn, where he operates both traditional hotel rooms and some short-term rentals — reiterated that Mountainside was “never intended for full-time occupancy,” and has operated as a “vacation resort, with a strong emphasis on timeshare until very recently.” “Furthermore, I’d like to point out that many of our out-of-state owners have owned here for decades — some over 40 years — and paid plenty of property taxes during that period. Is it fair for them to see their unit values crumble as a result of this proposal?” he said. Charles Stevenson, president of an association representing 32 condo owners adjacent to Stoweflake Resort, also submitted a memo to the selectboard lobbying for exemption from any potential short-term rental cap. The selectboard still has tools to regulate short-term rentals that have yet to be discussed. An entirely new zoning overlay district could be created to accommodate condo owners concerned about being locked in to simply owning property that could no longer generate income. The question of how a short-term rental designation under a cap regulation could be maintained or transferred in the event of property sale or inheritance is another thorny, open question the selectboard will have to address. If the selectboard does decide to draw a line on what properties can be rented in the short term, as part of a multi-pronged regulatory effort to make housing in Stowe more accessible to the workers who make Stowe’s hospitality economy run, it’s unlikely that all parties will be pleased. “I think there’s all types of gray areas, and that’s going to be part of the hard work that the selectboard and planning commission have to do,” Gaines said. “Where do you establish some boundaries that are appropriate, keeping in mind what you’re trying to accomplish.” Read the story on VTDigger here: Stowe resorts lobby for short-term rental cap carveouts. ...read more read less