Park City Study Probes Short Term Rentals Impact on Community

JoAnn Kirkland, a doctoral candidate at Heriot Watt University, launched a multi stakeholder survey on December 26, 2025 to study the impacts of short term rentals on ski resort communities. The study will collect responses from residents, local officials, business owners and rental hosts, and will analyze findings through social, economic and environmental lenses. Organizers say the project is intended to quantify how visitor driven housing demand interacts with workforce housing pressures common in seasonal resort towns.

Kirkland designed the research to capture perspectives across the local economy. Surveys of residents will measure perceived community effects and changes in neighborhood character, interviews with officials will document regulatory priorities and enforcement capacity, conversations with business owners will explore labor supply and seasonal revenue patterns, and outreach to rental hosts will gather data on occupancy, pricing and tenure decisions. The combination of respondent groups is meant to allow statistical comparisons that identify which impacts are most acute for different stakeholders.

For Summit County and Park City, the research arrives amid ongoing debates over short term rental policy, local housing availability and the ability of employers to retain year round staff. Short term rental income can boost tourism related spending and property tax revenue, but it can also reduce the stock of housing available to workers and increase rental costs for households that do not benefit directly from visitor income. By collecting systematic data from multiple groups, the study aims to inform local councils and planning agencies weighing regulatory options or targeted housing interventions.

The study will consider environmental factors linked to turnover and occupancy patterns as well, including seasonal strain on utilities and transportation systems. Local leaders may use these findings to calibrate policies that balance visitor economies with workforce stability and neighborhood livability. Park City residents are invited to participate in the survey, and their responses will feed into analysis intended to guide evidence based local decisions. As resort communities across the country confront similar trade offs, this research seeks to provide measurable insights that can shape policy responses here at home.