Salisbury looks at short-term rentals

SALISBURY — The Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission held a workshop meeting Monday, Oct. 15, to get feedback from the public on the subject of  short-term rentals in town.

About 35 people attended, plus the commissioners.

Jocelyn Ayer from the Northwest Hills Council of Governments started the meeting with a presentation on short-term rentals and how different towns regulate them (if they regulate them at all). The council is made up of first selectmen from 21 area towns.

Ayer began with a definition of “short-term rental” or STR: A room in a home, or the entire home, rented for a period of less than 30 days.

She said the number of STRs in the region has increased because of online platforms such as Airbnb, “which make it easy for renters and landlords.”

She said benefits of STRs include: promoting tourism; helping homeowners defray the cost of their property; additional tax revenues for towns.

“Challenges” include: impact on neighborhoods due to noise, increased traffic and rentals owned by people who do not live in town; the effect of STRs on local hotels and formal, permitted bed-and-breakfast establishments; the effect of STRs on the number of year-round rental properties; making sure short-term renters know about fire safety, egress, septic systems, etc.

Ayer said if the commission chooses to regulate STRs, there are two methods of doing so: via zoning regulations or by creating a town ordinance.

She gave examples: only allowing permanent, year-round residents to have STRs; limiting the total of STRs within the town; setting limits on the number of nights per year for STRs; setting limits on the number of people allowed on a STR property; regulating parking for STRs; passing a noise ordinance; requiring a local contact in the case of an absentee landlord.

Ayer offered her opinion that proceeding with zoning regulations seems like “a clumsy way to address it.” She said considering an ordinance might be more effective.

A handful of towns in the 21-town council are considering both approaches, she said.

Planning and Zoning  Chairman Michael Klemens asked if any towns are considering regulating STRs with special permits, which require a public hearing.

Ayer said the town of Warren might go in that direction.

Klemens, sticking to the outline that was available to the audience, moved on to the next subject: the impact of STRs on Salisbury real estate.

Pat Best, a real estate broker and STR owner, said she rents her home on a short-term basis, especially when there is a big wedding and guests have trouble finding accommodation of any sort.

She said two people who rented from her short-term went on to look at homes for sale. Others who might have taken a rental pegged to the academic year at one of the boarding schools decided the STR was a better option, she continued.

She said STRs hurt long-term rentals in general, but so do academic year or summer rentals.

Real estate broker Robin Leech said the price of STRs is typically lower than that of hotels and inns. He didn’t think STRs had much impact on seasonal rentals, and said he didn’t believe people are buying homes for the purpose of turning them into STRs.

Real estate broker Juliet Moore said there are too few hotel rooms in town for busy periods involving boarding schools and Lime Rock Park, and that STRs fill that need.

Others chimed in with positive remarks about STRs.

Mary O’Neill suggested the commission try to determine how many listed STRs are actually rented, and how often.

Elizabeth Whalen and her husband, Jim, live on Perry Street in Lakeville, across the street from a STR home. She had a different opinion.

She said the guests, especially during the recent Bugatti-themed Historic Festival at Lime Rock Park, were loud and partied outside into the early morning hours. They also had an alarm go off and, rather than phoning the landlord (who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.), they called 911, which brought the State Police and the Lakeville Hose Company to the neighborhood, also in the early morning.

She also said the guests were troublesome in general, calling out to schoolchildren getting off the bus, for example.

Klemens said one thing the commission needs to know is how many residents have had problems with STRs in their neighborhoods. “Is this isolated?”

Carr Ferguson, who lives on Interlaken Road, said the renters of a nearby cottage have been disruptive. In a letter to the commission (available with two others for the audience) he wrote that the visitors ignored property boundaries, left beer bottles and other debris all around, went into his garage to try out bicycles, broke their free-standing basketball hoop, and were ready to launch a boat without checking for zebra mussels.

He wrote that the Airbnb listing had the cottage as able to accommodate up to 20 people, and when he called the absentee owner, “it was clear he had no idea how many people were staying there, what they were doing or that there were any town regulations he needed to respect.”

A letter from Kevin Bousquet of the Interlaken Inn detailed similar problems with nearby STR visitors, including using the inn’s parking lot, stealing a keg of beer, and using the inn’s pool for a barbecue.

The discussion wound on, and a couple of things emerged: that STR owners should either be on the premises, live elsewhere in town, or have a representative in town to manage the rentals and respond to any problems.

The discussion continued toward regulating STRs on a case-by-case basis, through the Planning and Zoning Commission’s special permit process.

The commission plans to continue its discussion in November.

This article has appeared online at www.tricornernews.com.