All Hands On Deck

To the editor: With less than one week to go until the Special Town Meeting on November 4th, I would like to thank all of the Article 1 supporters who agreed not to put yard signs around our beautiful island. After spending six years debating if/how STRs should be regulated, I think people are starting to understand the facts.

I called the Special Town Meeting for two reasons: the right to rent is so important that we need a dedicated and focused meeting. My second reason is economic stability. With customers already booking for next season, rental stability is key for our local businesses. Property owners and visitors need to know that the house they are renting is going to be a legal use without neighbors looking in the window to see what day they arrived. Article 1 does all of these things.

Article 1 is a simple zoning article that restores the right to rent our homes as we see fit and it addresses the concerns of a judge. It would reinstate rentals (short and long-term) into Nantucket’s zoning bylaw subject to existing and future regulations. It would stop the privately funded lawsuits and let us all get back to work.

Existing regulations include: no corporate-owned STRs, state and local registration and taxation, occupancy limits, and compliance with noise, parking, and lighting regulations. There is a 24/7 hotline that received only five calls this year, two of them to inquire whether a property was, in fact, an STR.

Regulations to Article 1 can be changed by a general bylaw that only requires a 50 percent vote. Any changes to Article 2 will require a two-thirds vote.

Special Town Meeting will be short and focused with only two articles. Article 1 is the citizens’ article and protects your right to rent, subject to regulations. Article 2, sponsored by the Planning Board, and endorsed by ACK-Now, limits your right to rent to 49 days between 6/15 and 8/31 and another 21 days for a total of only 70 days in a year. Sponsors themselves have stated that it will not make houses more affordable or reduce traffic. No economic impact studies or enforcement plans have been done on the effects of Article 2.

So, I’m urging you to come and vote yes for Article 1 on Tuesday, ending the legal assault on our democratic process. Island voters should solely determine the island's future, not an off-island judge. We can end this. WE DECIDE!

Capt. Brian Borgeson