NLWC On The Town Meeting Warrant Articles

To the editor: The Nantucket Land and Water Council (NLWC) has been working to preserve the health of Nantucket’s environment and community through the protection of our land and water resources since 1974. The NLWC has observed how the rise of the commercial short-term rental (STR) industry contributes to and incentivizes an intense (re)development of properties on Nantucket designed to deliver the highest rate of return. This is often accomplished by maximizing the number of buildings, bedrooms, pools and other amenities on each property in an attempt to meet the expectations of prospective occupants. This decreases open space and habitat in neighborhoods, escalates the intensity of use, and puts increasing pressure on the island’s resources jeopardizing the health of our drinking water, ponds and harbors, and our shared infrastructure such as solid waste and storm-water management, water and sewer.

Article 66, as proposed for the upcoming Town Meeting, is identical to the previously-defeated Article 42 at the 2022 ATM, Article 2 at the 2023 STM, Article 59 at the 2025 ATM, and Article 1 at the 2025 STM. Article 66 MUST BE DEFEATED because it once again seeks to legalize unlimited commercial STRs as a primary use for houses in all our residential districts across the island. If this right is granted under zoning it cannot be taken away. Allowing commercial STRs in residential districts would have long-term adverse, and potentially irreversible impacts on our environment and the health of our community. Moreover, recent court rulings have confirmed that STRs are a commercial use that is not legal in residential districts.

NLWC is supporting Articles 67 and 68 which propose to allow STRs as an accessory use in residential districts, protecting residents’ ability to rent their homes so long as they are using it primarily as a residence. Article 67 allows property owners to count non-commercial use of their property by family and friends or long-term rentals (six months or more) towards this residential use. We support Article 68 as a companion article to 67, which will create consistency in our General Bylaw.

The NLWC does not support Article 69. While we agree with the purpose and intention to collect and analyze comprehensive short-term rental data, we do not support Article 69’s proposed cap of 1,350 certificates of registration over the next three years. This allows for commercial STRs as a primary use for up to 1,350 homes in our residential districts across the island, without clear direction after the three-year expiration of the provision. Once granted, this allowance would become very challenging to reverse.

The commercial short-term rental industry, if unchecked, threatens to irreparably harm our island’s environment and, therefore, our community’s vitality, health and quality of life. Obviously, this is an outcome that we all want to prevent. If maintaining a healthy environment, community, and quality of life on Nantucket is important to you, please attend the Annual Town Meeting on May 3rd, and vote NO on Articles 66 & 69, and YES on Articles 67 & 68 to memorialize STRs as an accessory use for all of our island residents.

Sincerely,

William Willet, Lucy Dillon, David Troast, and Matthew Liddle
On behalf of the Nantucket Land & Water Council

Editor's note: In March 2024, a Massachusetts Land Court judge ruled in the so-called "Ward case" that short-term rentals are not allowed as of right in any residential districts in Nantucket. The court did find that they are allowed as an accessory use, and the case was remanded back to the Zoning Board of Appeals to determine whether the use is sufficiently incidental to the primary use as to qualify as an accessory use. In September 2024, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted 4-1 that the use of the property in question on West Dover Street as a vacation rental was permissible under the island’s zoning code. That decision is once again under appeal and the court has not yet ruled.