Short Term Rental (STR) updates
There was a draft ordinance advertised for public hearing and I went to the hearing. Strange but true, the Planning Commission (PC) did not review prior to this being advertised for public hearing.
Staff Update
· April 2023 the STR Subcommittee was formed at PC request to provide input (apparently there was some confusion as the subcommittee thought their recommendations were final word). Town staff pointed out; this was not the role of the subcommittee.
· Town staff also provided recommendations.
·
Main differences between Town staff and subcommittee were:
Subcommittee recommended
1. No Annual Zoning Permit (instead they want a one-time registration fee of $50 that realtors are exempt from by state code)
2. No Proof of insurance.
3. No Maintaining occupancy Log and emergency number.
4. No Occupancy Limit based on number of guests per bedroom.
Citizen input
Committee member Lorie Gore - Not happy with town changes after time spent on committee.
Committee member Eric Nelson - Said he’s an owner of STRs and thinks taxes should be paid and staff recommendations are over burdensome (examples name of host and 24 hours number). Said STRs are not a plague
Mike Fitzpatrick - Log book requirement overburdensome, registration should be annual, proof of insurance should be required.
Anthony Scisiani - things that should be considered: Registration, tax paying, location. Regulations are to prevent future problems. Parking and trash should be addressed. Ordinance must be 100% resident friendly but not necessarily business friendly. It’s a privilege to have a business in a residential area. Most STR owners are confused which is why we need rules. Chair Mack and Mr. Scisiani got into argument about speaking time at the end.
Sandy Rodenheaver - Put up with so much for so long. Several on her street and issues ranged from boat parking, trash occupancy (example 8 kids in 2-bedroom home). Need plans to make things work and soon. So many issues and residents don’t have much recourse.
David Williams (me) - Mentioned how I have spoken with many citizens and they raised concerns. For full disclosure, I said I own no STR‘s, and would like commission members and council members to disclose how many they own or manage. One issue is some residents are surrounded by STRs. 129 STRs reported by VRBO/ Airbnb in May so with all that don’t report (many) there could be over 250+. Consider Owner operator local only vs corporate non-community members. 554 houses were recreational/ seasonal in 2017 so could be 600-700 now. Distance apart could alleviate some issues. Agree with staff to limit 2 guests per bedroom and maybe 10 per house.
Added comments as ran out of time
· Accessory dwelling should use CUP and separate water hookups
· Parking requirements off street and numbers
· Limit total number of STRs
· Because of the Realtor exemption I agree with staff that we need to use the permit process. And I personally would like to see a limit to the number of permits issued.
· Most localities grandfather in existing STR‘s to avoid legal issues, so we may want to do the same but start limiting.
Will Knuckles - Concerns over process to this point. Perceptions of conflicts of interests even if not real cause people to lose faith in the process. Conflict of interest forms should disclose to public and those with conflicts should recuse themselves. This would give others an opportunity to provide feedback and enhance overall public confidence.
Planning Commission Discussion
· staff reiterated that committee was not drafting but providing input as requested.
· The draft ordinance started with Essex County.
· Mr. Howell asked about process to regarding time and staff said Council wanted by June but more time could be granted.
· Chair Mack said he felt the ordinance was not ready to go to public hearing. I agree with him. He understood it should go to PC for discussion and public input and then a hearing. We now have more suggested changes including registration vs permit due to registration realtor exemption. Not ready for vote.
· Ms. Luna suggested subcommittee should at least look at staff recommendations.
· Mr. Howell suggested a work session to complete task.
· Discussion about work session to address and concerns of what could be changed without a new public hearing.
· Work session was set for 7/18/23 at 6pm
I personally think we need more time and PC should not be afraid to make changes that citizens want and therefore we should advertise a new public hearing vs sending to Council next week. Councilwoman Self Sullivan asked if we needed a new public hearing if were to add a parking requirement or limit guests for example and answer was yes. I hope we don’t avoid making common sense changes to rush this through.
My general thoughts based on public feedback and research:
If I were drafting this ordinance, I would try to keep requirements basic and easy to understand, use an annual permit) versus registration, 2 or 3 permits per owner(s), charge enough for the permit to manage and implement the program, restrict guest to two per bedroom and 10 or 12 per home, restrict to 100 feet between lots, require STR owners live in town, require adequate parking and allow off-street parking by special permit only and keep a close eye on the numbers to ensure they don’t get out of control and residents can live peacefully in their residential neighborhoods. We need to ensure there’s enough housing supply for people to live in.
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