The Longmont City Council formally laid the groundwork for establishing a tourism improvement district aimed at increasing visitation in the city.

The decision is the first step in the creation of the potential Longmont Tourism Improvement District, which would place an additional fee on hotels and motels in the city to fund destination development programs and boost local tourism.

Longmont lodging business owners within the district would pay a fee or pass the fee onto visitors, according to a council memo.

The proposed annual 2% fee could add $2 onto a $100-a-night hotel stay in Longmont, before tax.

The fee would not be collected in certain exceptions, according to the memo, including:

• All lodging services provided to religious and charitable organizations.

• All lodging services provided for a period of at least 30 consecutive days.

• Any lodging transaction paid in advance on a weekly basis that does not exceed a total of $75 per week.

During Tuesday’s regular-session meeting, the council voted unanimously to amend the Longmont Municipal Code to allow the creation of a tourism improvement district. All seven councilmembers were present at the meeting.

“I think the timing is perfect because with the Sundance festival coming to Boulder, we’re going to get a lot of spillover,” Mayor Joan Peck said.

Local tourism nonprofit Visit Longmont is in favor of creating the Longmont Tourism Improvement District. The fee revenue would be put toward marketing, communication and destination development programs for Longmont.The district can only be created following the approval of an implementation ordinance, or local law, which would outline the initial governance and boundaries of the district. That has not been put before the council yet.

“This ordinance is the enabling ordinance that sets up the rules and framework for a tourism improvement district,” Sarah Leonard, CEO of Visit Longmont, told the council Tuesday. “The second step, if this is approved, would be the details about implementing a tourism improvement district focused on hotels and motels.”

Councilmember Matthew Popkin said that by enabling the creation of the district, it supports the tourism sector of the local business community.

“That will have downstream benefits economically on other businesses that maybe aren’t as key in the tourism sector overall but will be frequented by folks who are visiting Longmont,” Popkin said.

Tuesday’s meeting included a public hearing on the enabling ordinance. Kimberlee McKee, executive director of the Longmont Downtown Development Authority, spoke in favor of the creation of the tourism improvement district.

“We hear over and over from our small businesses on Main Street the impact that tourism is having on them,” McKee said.

“It is so important to have new money into our economy, especially now in a kind of uncertain economy.”

Many places in the United States have formed tourism improvement districts in recent decades, according to a city memo.