What's Next For Short-Term Rentals On Nantucket?

Short-term rentals have been the topic du jour on Nantucket for more than a year, but the looming showdown that some expected at last week’s Town Meeting never materialized, and the debate ended with something of a whimper.

So what’s next for short-term rentals on the island?

The two most controversial warrant articles at Town Meeting - the Planning Board's proposal to codify short-term rentals by right in any island zoning district and the political action group ACK Now's petition to regulate and curtail short-term rentals by non-residents - were both tabled and sent to a study committee for more review.

The Select Board, Planning Board, and the Finance Committee, will now be tasked with determining the membership and mission of the work group that will likely be the most closely watched appointed committee on the island.

And while the highly divisive proposals got punted, Nantucket voters did, however, endorse Article 39, a new general bylaw that will establish a framework to regulate and register short-term rentals on the island. The proposal was sponsored by the Planning Board and was adopted on a 610-302 vote.

Nantucket Planning Director Andrew Vorce said that while state Attorney General Maura Healy must still approve the new bylaw, he expects it will pass muster the town will soon begin implementing its provisions.

Those include a local registry for short-term rentals, a permitting system, inspections, and fees. The bylaw would also set up a structure to put some of the “nuisance” issues associated with short-term rentals – for example: noise and parking – under the the purview of the Board of Health.

“The Board of Health, individually or with the Select Board, needs to get working on the draft bylaws,” Vorce said.

There have been discussions, Vorce added, about hiring a private company to conduct monitoring, compliance, and enforcement of the short-term rental regulations that eventually are implemented under Article 39.

“We have talked to private vendors about this,” Vorce said. “Barnstable, for example, used a firm named Granicus. For a price, they offer a whole range of services: a 24/7 hotline, extensive diagnostics.”

The short-term rental registration fees expected to be established under Article 39 would cover the cost of that contract, Vorce added.

Once the Board of Health determines its course of action, it will not have to come back to Town Meeting for approval. The authority granted under Article 30 allows it to proceed directly to implementation.

Kathy Baird, the co-founder and president of Nantucket Together, the group that formed last year to oppose ACK Now’s proposal to restrict short-term rentals, said the results of Town Meeting were a mixed-bag.

“No one likes to be regulated, but if that’s what it takes to stop all the hate?” said Baird, who also sits on the town’s Advisory Committee of Non-Voting Taxpayers. “I was satisfied that (article) 39 passed, but not satisfied that (article) 42 did not pass. I’m still open to a lawsuit (for short-term renting her home).”

Her advice to the group that will form to study the short-term rental issue moving forward?

“Get everyone in a room with a key facilitator, with the point being to open your ears before you open your mouth,” Baird said. “Share your fears and solutions. I think everyone wants the same thing, they just don’t agree on how to get it. I think a lot of it depends on what comes out of the data. Whether I fear something or not doesn’t matter. It’s the facts and what’s real.”