Short-Term Rentals: Enough Is Enough

To the editor:

We’ve heard a lot about the need for more data related to short-term rentals (STRs) for vacationers.

Enough is enough.

We don’t need more data, another consultant, or months of study group meetings to tell us what we already know.

We want to be able to rent our homes to help pay the expenses of owning a home on Nantucket.

That is our tradition.

We do not want our neighborhoods to become benefit centers for for-profit commercial interests. The short-term rental industry has become big business. And Nantucket is a prime target for increasing commercial investment in residential areas to run mini hotels.

If we do nothing, we leave homeowners and neighborhoods unprotected and commercial interests unrestricted.

Article 60 is a straightforward solution. It is a zoning change that allows homeowners to short-term rent in residential districts as long as the property is used more as a residence than it is used as a short-term rental.

All homeowners can find a way to continue to offer their homes as vacation rentals, now or in the future. I hope island voters will positively consider Article 60.

Let’s solve this zoning problem and move on to other important community issues that need our attention.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Eric Silfen MD