The PAC called ACK NOW has gotten a citizen's ballot article on the town of Nantucket warrant that would severely limit short term rentals. Home rentals are about 85% of the available lodging on the island as no nationally branded hotels or resorts are permitted and B&B's are small. Since it is a tourist town, lodging is essential to support island businesses. The bylaw basically limits year round residents to 90 days/year for short term (Less than 30 days) , limits part-time resident homeowners to 45 rental days and prohibits rentals less than 7 days. It further restricts rentals to one vehicle and 2 people per bedroom regardless of the size of the home, bedrooms or private, on property parking capacity. A town agency would have to be set up to collect and process applications and fees and then conduct health and safety inspections of rental homes, also serving as an enforcement agency.
The stated goal is to eliminate off-island investor only rentals (which is a growing concern but this proposed bylaw affects everyone). A grassroots community organization of year round and part-time residents, homeowners and those who visit has sprung up to oppose this (more than 500 members in 10 days so far) but a major concern is that many of them are non-voting taxpayers since their principal home is elsewhere. The non-voting taxpayers pay 88% of the residential property taxes on the island, pay MA income tax on their earnings and a 11.7% short term rental tax.
Can Airbnb help us get information about this out to those who rent their Nantucket homes? VRBO, WeNeedaVacation.com and other vacation rental companies have shared the information with their homeowners and some have even set up a page where they could easily contact the town government. Since Nantucket operates on a town government model, the Select Board and other boards have no ability to stop this from going before the voters (who must be full-time registered voters and show up in person at town meeting to vote) as it is a citizen's warrant, requiring only 10 certified signatures. The town meeting is starting June 5 and could last several days.
Is this happening in any other tourist communities and if so, how has this been successfully defeated?
Kathy and Joe Baird
