Close The STR Loophole

To the editor: My thanks to JohnCarl McGrady for saying out loud what has been clear to most of us for as long as the STR debate has been raging: many rental properties on Nantucket are owned by investors, in one form or another, who have the resources to structure their holdings in ways that do not run afoul of Nantucket’s zoning laws and, accordingly, run profitable businesses on Nantucket. They don’t pay business taxes and they don’t care what happens to the neighborhoods in which they operate.

If you have the money, the incentives, and the professional counsel to guide you through them, you can exploit the inevitable loopholes in our bylaws.

Mr. McGrady’s analysis was well-researched, and his presentation was balanced. Amazingly, his exposé seems to have come as a surprise to some people.

I wonder if those who expressed concern about this situation could get together with the Planning and/or Select Board and come up with some additional wording to solve, or at least mitigate, the investor loophole so articulately described by Mr. McGrady? They can address “Vacation Clubs” while they are at it.

That would be a great service to the community.

Anne Dewez
Mill Street