OGDEN — Weber County officials have temporarily put a hold on efforts to craft a new policy governing short-term rentals in the Ogden Valley, due in part to apparent misinformation circulating on the issue.

“We just hit the pause button,” County Commissioner Gage Froerer said.

He said commissioners decided just last month to temporarily stop discussion on the issue, a hot topic given the number of outside visitors the Ogden Valley draws and focus of debate since last August. The decision, though, doesn’t mean the issue is dead. Froerer foresees efforts to bolster understanding of the issue among Ogden Valley residents and a public meeting in June or July, perhaps.

The misinformation, according to Froerer, stems from the belief among some that commissioners aim to boost the number of short-term rentals allowable in the Ogden Valley, increasingly popular because of the ski resorts in the area, Pineview Reservoir and other recreational offerings. It’s a touchy subject, with many living in the area decrying excessive traffic, noise and other issues brought on by short-term rentals and the outside visitors they draw.

Froerer didn’t delve into the nature of the disinformation, though the belief that commissioners aim to expand the number of short-term rentals is the focus of a Change.org petition from last November that’s critical of such a move. But he said the notion is incorrect.

“We want enforcement. We want registration,” he said. That is, officials want to come up with a means to better enforce rules governing short-term rentals to keep the problems they cause in check. They also have pushed for short-term rental operators to register their property with the county, as required but not always done, also to get a better handle on the operations.

Kay Hoogland, who lives in the Eden area and has been closely following the issue, said she hasn’t noticed the sort of widespread dissemination of misinformation that Froerer decries. She expressed disappointment at last month’s decision and hopes officials don’t let the issue fade away. Officials had initially hoped to come up with a tentative fix by late last year.

“I would hope that we can get back to work on this,” Hoogland said.

At stake, in her view, is the future well-being of the area if the rules get too loose, allowing for unfettered growth of short-term rentals. That, she worries, would lead to heavy traffic, increased property ownership by remote owners and skyrocketing housing costs.

“We always say we want more park, less city,” said Hoogland. “We don’t want to become Park City.”

She concurs, broadly speaking, with the notion of bolstering enforcement to get better control of short-term rentals, the sort of property rented for a weekend or a few days to visitors coming for short visits.

Planning officials have been investigating the issue for commissioners and one of the possible fixes that has emerged is hiring of a contractor that could respond to complaints from the public about short-term rental properties in a timely fashion. As is, Weber County has one code enforcement officer who typically doesn’t work weekends, when the problems related to outside visitors are most common.

Froerer said he hopes any solution would be paid for by owners of short-term rental properties, perhaps through registration fees or some other means. The broader public, in his view, shouldn’t have to cover any increased cost in enforcement.