Adams County committee denies tourist rental license after neighborhood accounts of large-party shooting

Adams County’s Planning & Zoning Committee voted to deny a tourist rooming house license for 1173 Gale Court after staff told members a prior rental at the property drew an estimated 60 to 100 people and resulted in a shooting that hospitalized one person.

Dusty, the zoning director, said the applicants listed the house on Airbnb and did not apply for a license before that rental. The applicants, Alexe and Satarina Filipov, said they had completed required inspections and would follow county rules; Dusty told the committee the applicants will pay a double fee for late licensing.

Neighbors spoke against the license. Paul and Carolyn Ratkkey said they have lived near the property for decades and described the neighborhood as quiet until the reported party, which they said included gunfire: "I could have been out walking my dog. one of us could have been killed," Paul Ratkkey said. Committee members cited that event alongside concerns about noise, septic capacity, traffic and excessive law-enforcement response when recording their statutory reasons for denying the application.

The committee recorded a roll-call outcome with two members voting yes and four voting no; the chair read the ordinance factors members must cite when denying a license and identified reasons supporting the no votes, including threats to public health and safety and excessive law-enforcement response. The county zoning director said the committee must set those reasons in writing and will prepare a written decision identifying which members supported each reason.

Dusty said the proposed occupancy limit for the property would have been seven people; he also said the health department inspection report had not yet been provided to staff. The committee's denial closes the licensing matter at the committee level; the county will issue a written decision documenting the stated ordinance reasons.