Preserving The Nantucket Way For 21st Century Nantucket: Article 66

To the editor: When Nantucket voters gather for our 355th Annual Town Meeting on May 3rd, we will find ourselves at a historic crossroads. Facing multiple proposals regarding short-term rentals (“STRs”), this year we do so under the Commonwealth's new recognition of Nantucket as a “Seasonal Community.”

The Seasonal Community designation, quietly granted last summer, acknowledges that Nantucket is fundamentally different from a typical Massachusetts municipality. Because such a high proportion of our housing stock is classified as being “seasonal, occasional or recreational use or is otherwise not used as a primary residence by the property’s owner” (60%), we are no longer just living our history — we are now formally recognized for it. This designation affirms that Nantucket’s land use laws must reflect the island’s flexible housing patterns, multi-dwelling properties, and seasonal population rhythms. The designation is part of the Commonwealth’s Affordable Housing Act, unlocking long-awaited housing solutions that best reflect Nantucket’s historic and seasonal character and needs — offering promise for those who care about attainable housing as well as zoning fairness.

Unlike many mainland communities now struggling to retrofit their zoning codes around vacation rentals, Nantucket did it differently: we built for them. From the late 19th century through the 20th, many parts of our island and housing stock were intentionally developed for the summer resort. Renting private homes to vacationers shouldn’t now be used as someone’s legal-loophole. It was our model from the beginning.

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. It aligns with what our neighborhoods have always done: adapt and breathe across generations, seasons, and needs. Article #66 is the “STR” article that matches the Seasonal Community designation, and respects our federal protections as the only island-wide National Historic Landmark in the nation.

This is more than semantics. In February, Judge Vhay of the Massachusetts Land Court warned that if Nantucket voters fail —for the sixth time— to resolve this ambiguity through a proper zoning bylaw, the court will no longer defer to local control. This will be more than a legal setback — it will be a loss of community sovereignty.

Article #66 is not de-regulation. It doesn’t undo our existing four General Bylaws regulating “STRs” which include 2 bans on business corporations and investor REITS (beyond the 2% here now). What it does is stabilize and protect the use of homes as they’ve long functioned on the island — for family, visitors, year-round renters, and for community resilience. It gives clear legal standing to the model that currently provides 92% of all visitor accommodations on Nantucket, without expanding it. In fact, “STR” use has declined over time: in 1927, 39% of Nantucket’s dwellings were rented to summer vacationers. Today, that number is just 8% of the dwellings. That’s not a runaway industry — it’s a controlled basis for an island’s 150 year old economic engine.

By contrast, Articles 67, 68, and 69 take restrictive approaches — caps on the number of rental nights, layers of limits and, in the case of 67 and 68, imposition of minimum residency requirements that Town Counsel has advised can run afoul of constitutional protections. Worse still, they lean on zoning models built for the mainland — “primary residence” standards, accessory use arguments, rigid definitions that do not reflect Nantucket’s historical building and use patterns. All three invite more legal uncertainty and disruption than we have now.

As anyone who’s lived here knows, our dwellings have always accommodated multiple and changing functions. A house, a cottage, back-house, lean-to, maybe a garage apartment— a Nantucket property’s historically-protected patterns organically adapted to a family’s needs and the island’s seasonality. Our homes have housed workers, hosted summer guests, supported families through loss and change, and helped many owners afford to stay on island. They still do. It’s a flexible model that is the essence of the Nantucket Way.

The Nantucket Way is not a slogan — it’s our civic compass. It’s a shared understanding that what works in ‘America’ doesn’t always work here. It says: look after each other. Don’t over-regulate what already works. Preserve the rhythm of the island. Let form follow function. Be real.

To support our unique hospitality economy, the Town sought a National Historic Landmark designation in the 1950s and 1960s securing it through a Special Act which ties preservation to our income-producing properties. Given that the majority of the visitors stay in the community, in 1980 Town Meeting voted to ban new hotels outside the downtown commercial district, further protecting our Landmark status. As Walter Beinecke understood, the key to Nantucket’s success was never shutting out change — it was channeling it into something that fit.

Article #66’s simplicity does a lot to honor Nantucket’s living legacy. It brings the zoning code into alignment with our island identity. It heeds the Land Court’s warning. It matches the new Seasonal Community framework. It gives voters a clean way to stabilize what’s worked for over a century.

Some say this debate has been about online rental platforms or corporate investors. It’s not. It’s about land use — and whether we choose to govern our island like the historic, living, breathing place it is. Article #66 gives 21st century voters a role in protecting Nantucket’s prestigious Landmark status and its special community fabric. Without 2/3s of us voting for #66, litigation and confusion will continue to tear at the edges of our shared home.

Please join me in sending a clear message to the Land Court that we vote to keep Nantucket Nantucket. Vote YES on only one “STR” Article, #66.

– Caroline Robinson Baltzer, writing in my capacity as Sponsor of Article #66