Short-Term Rental Proposals To Be Reviewed By Planning Board On Thursday

The Planning Board is expected to vote on Thursday on which short-term rental (STR) regulation article, if any, to endorse for the November 4th Special Town Meeting. Both proposals that will go before voters next month are relatively simple compared to some past articles.

Article 1, a citizen petition sponsored by local charter boat captain Brian Borgeson, is one that voters have seen before. Borgeson’s article would allow STRs across the island without any further restrictions beyond those that already exist. The only exception would be plots of land that fall under a rare land use classification known as “commercial-industrial,” mostly found around Nantucket Memorial Airport.

Borgeson’s article also protects long-term rentals, although there are currently no legal threats to long-term rentals. Short-term rentals are rented for 31 days or less at a time. Long-term rentals are rented for more than 31 days at a time.

Article 2 is sponsored by Planning Board chair Dave Iverson. Under Iverson’s article, Nantucket’s peak season would be defined as lasting from June 15 to August 31. During the peak season, a dwelling could be used as an STR for 49 days, and the minimum stay would be set at seven days. Throughout the whole year, including the peak season, a dwelling could be used as an STR for 70 days. That means that if a building is used as an STR for the full 49 days during the peak season, there will be 21 days remaining for the rest of the year.

Iverson’s article also limits the number of changes of occupancy during the peak season. A change of occupancy is when the guests staying at an STR switch. There can only be seven changes of occupancy during the peak season under Iverson’s proposal.

These regulations would not apply to hosted stays. A hosted stay is defined as when the STR operator lives in the building they are renting, or in another building on the same lot.

Iverson’s article allows STRs as an accessory use.

Iverson and fellow Planning Board members John Kitchener and Hillary Hedges Rayport have indicated their support for his article. Planning Board members Joe Topham and Nat Lowell have raised concerns with the article and suggested their support for full codification.

Thursday's Planning Board meeting will be held in a hybrid format, with the board convening in-person at 4 p.m. in the community room at the Nantucket Public Safety Facility at 4 Fairgrounds Road. Remote participation will also be allowed via Zoom, and participants can register to watch and participate in the meeting at this link.

The November Special Town Meeting comes with a heightened sense of urgency surrounding STRs following the June 2025 Massachusetts Land Court ruling in island resident Cathy Ward's lawsuit against her neighbors and the Nantucket Zoning Board of Appeals, which has thrown Nantucket's zoning regulations pertaining to STRs into uncertainty. and raised the possibility that they may not be legal at all.

In her suit, Ward claimed that her neighbors’ use of their property as an STR violated Nantucket’s zoning code and is an illegal commercial use in a residential zone. Land Court judge Michael Vhay has now sided with her twice. The town has appealed his latest ruling, and the parties involved reached a deal in July to pause enforcement of Vhay's decision while that appeal is pending.