Short-Term Rentals Redux: Town Meeting Weighs Four More STR Proposals

It will be deja vu all over again when the 2025 Annual Town Meeting reconvenes Monday night.

Voters will once again be asked to consider several warrant articles dealing with short-term rentals (STRs), renewing a debate that has been simmering for five years. On one side, short-term rentals are viewed as a longstanding pillar of the island tourist economy that provides essential lodging for visitors and represents a huge tax revenue source for the town budget. On the other side are island residents who believe short-term rentals disrupt residential neighborhoods with “mini-hotels,” and exacerbate the island’s housing crisis by converting year-round homes into rentals and driving up prices.

Island voters have already approved a ban on corporate ownership of short-term rentals on Nantucket, as well as regulations that include a local registration system. But the vexing questions of whether to codify short-term rentals into the zoning code or restrict them through a so-called “accessory use” bylaw remain unanswered, with no consensus.

Looming over this year’s set of four short-term rental warrant articles is the pending decision by Massachusetts Land Court judge Michael Vhay on Cathy Ward’s appeal of her lawsuit against the town and her neighbors on West Dover Street over the use of their property as a vacation rental. If voters remain at a stalemate following this year’s Town Meeting, it may be the judge’s ruling in that case that ultimately decides the town’s zoning approach to short-term rentals.

Here are this year’s batch of short-term rental articles:

Article 66

Sponsor: Dr. Caroline Baltzar

Type: Zoning bylaw amendment

Approval threshold: Two-thirds majority vote

Finance Committee motion: Adopt

Article 66 would codify STRs in the island’s zoning code and dub them “Nantucket Vacation Rentals,” which would become an allowed use by right in all zoning districts except the commercial/industrial (CI) district. It received the unanimous support of the Finance Committee and a positive recommendation from the Planning Board. Both groups opposed all other STR articles that came before them.

“In recognition of our history, Article 66 proposes a straightforward zoning bylaw affirming Nantucket Vacation Rentals (NVRs) as a permitted principal use - not accessory, not exceptional — but a historically integrated, ordinary residential use,” Baltzer stated. “It aligns with what our neighborhoods have always done: adapt and breathe across generations, seasons, and needs.”

Baltzar emphasized the economic benefits STRs bring to Nantucket and the potential financial consequences of other, more restrictive articles. “I urge the Finance Committee to be protective of our hard-working hospitality folks by giving Article 66 a positive motion and sending a perfectly clear message this year that none of the other articles offer any benefit where there isn't…unintended consequences,” she said at a recent hearing.

The article would also put a stop to a series of lawsuits against Nantucket STR operators that some article proponents believe have created a sense of fear on the island and a chilling effect on tourism. Baltzar’s article is similar to an article proposed by attorney Steve Cohen at last year’s Annual Town Meeting, which only received 48 percent of the vote, far short of the two-thirds threshold needed for adoption. Four other previous attempts to codify STRs into the zoning code have also failed.

Article 67

Sponsor: Fritz McClure

Type: Zoning bylaw amendment

Approval threshold: Two-thirds majority vote

Finance Committee motion: Take no action

Retired attorney and former Planning Board member Fritz McClure’s article proposes to codify STRs as an accessory use, requiring that they be occupied by the owner (or their friends and family) for at least one day more than they short-term rent it. McClure represents the other side of a debate that has consumed the island for years, advocating a minimum non-STR occupancy of 30 days for all vacation rentals. His article would also require all STRs to be occupied by the owner - or their friends and family - or rented long-term, more than they are used as a short-term rental. McClure’s proposal would also institute a minimum rental period of seven days in July and August and three days the rest of the year. The warrant article would also limit STR operators to renting one dwelling unit at a time.

Much of McClure’s article mirrors a proposal championed by the political action group Nantucket Neighborhoods First at the Special Town Meeting last fall, which received 55 percent of the vote, but failed to pass because of the two-thirds threshold required for all zoning bylaws. However, there is one key difference.

“Under my article, an owner may rent on a short-term basis as much as they want, as long as the owner rents the property for a continuous period of at least six months a year to one tenant,” McClure said. “In this particular case, there is no owner occupancy requirement at all.”

McClure intends this provision to encourage more offseason housing on the island, but some worry it would just increase the housing crisis.

“His six-month rule is just enhancing the Nantucket Shuffle,” Finance Committee member Peter Schaeffer said, referring to a colloquial term for when year-round residents have to leave their offseason rentals at the start of the summer season and are forced to find alternative accommodations, with some resorting to couch-surfing.

Schaeffer also raised a common concern with McClure’s article: it is difficult to enforce laws that rely on counting the number of days someone resides on a given property. The Town’s enforcement ability is weak, and there are few resources to dedicate to the project. “Who's going to count it? Rules that rely on counting are a waste of time,” Schaeffer said.

McClure isn’t worried. “I don't think keeping track is all that difficult,” he said. “I think most people...are going to be honest about it.”

Article 67 is supported by ACK Now, the political action group that has been fighting to regulate and restrict short-term rentals since 2021.

Article 68

Sponsor: Patricia Wright

Type: General bylaw amendment

Approval threshold: Majority vote

Finance Committee motion: Not to adopt

Similar to Article 67, but without the exception for operators who rent long-term in the offseason or a restriction on operators looking to rent multiple dwellings on the same lot, Patricia Wright’s Article 68 is another accessory use proposal. It would require STRS to be “occupied by the owner at least 30 non-consecutive days per calendar year; provided, however, that such short-term rental use is allowed for a maximum of one day less than total number of days that the Lot is occupied by the Owner.”

But Wright’s proposal is perhaps most notable for where it falls in the town code.

Attempting to dodge the two-thirds rule that has stymied previous attempts at short-term rental restrictions, Wright wrote her entire article as a general bylaw, which requires only a simple majority to pass. But not everyone is convinced her proposal is legal. Generally, laws like Wright’s that regulate land use have to be approved as a zoning bylaw amendment.

“It appear[s] to be an attempt to regulate land through a general bylaw,” town counsel John Giorgio said. “The question is going to be, will the attorney general approve Article 68, or will she determine it is really a zoning amendment?”

“It’s basically a zoning article dressed up as a general bylaw,” Finance Committee Chair Denice Kronau said.

For her part, Wright is focused on substance. “I believe my article signifies the will of the voters. Article 2, an accessory use zoning article with very similar provisions, received a 55% majority at the [Special Town Meeting last fall]," Wright wrote in a letter to the Finance Committee, referencing the bylaw supported by Nantucket Neighborhoods First mentioned above. “I believe those metrics speak for themselves.”

Aside from the legal concerns, Wright also faces the same worries about enforcement and economic ramifications dogging McClure.

Article 68 is also supported by ACK Now, the political action group that has been fighting to regulate and restrict short-term rentals since 2021.

Article 69

Sponsor: Matthew Peel

Type: General bylaw amendment

Approval threshold: Majority vote

Finance Committee motion: Not to adopt

Matthew Peel, of the political action group Nantucket Neighborhoods First, has proposed a general bylaw dealing with short-term rentals. Peel’s warrant article would mandate the town to collect and publish data about STRs on the island over the next three years to facilitate a more informed debate on the subject. Beyond just collecting data, Peel’s article would restrict STR operators to renting for 70 days a year and establish a cap of 1,350 STRs on-island for the duration of the study.

“Until the Town has a proven track record of enforcement and the voters have a clear understanding of the STR impact to the island, I believe they will continue to deny any zoning regulations. However, they did approve a[n STR] registry,” Peel said. “We need time to amass and understand the data from the registry.”

Most of the debate around Peel’s article centers on that cap, which opponents fear could suddenly make hundreds of Nantucket STRs illegal and dramatically curtail the revenue generated by the room occupancy tax and STR-related tourism.

Peel disagrees—but Peel and his opponents have very different ideas about how many STRs currently operate on Nantucket. Peel says his research indicates the number is somewhere around the 1,350 limit his article would impose. Others think the real number is closer to 1,900, the number used by the town in its estimates, drawn from a culled version of the state’s STR database. Only 863 STRs are currently registered on Nantucket.