The Time Has Come For Nantucket To Decide

To the editor: Well, the time has come for Nantucket to decide. The outcome is anyone’s guess, but Nantucket has never stood up to the real estate lobby in the past. Hopefully, concerned voters will turn out, and this time will be different. We are supporting Dave Iverson’s Compromise Article 2, which the Planning Board endorsed, but we have intentionally stayed out of the fray for the last few months. We didn’t want the opposition blowing the ACK Now dog whistle and distracting voters. We write now only to point out the strange things that are happening in the run-up to this Special Town Meeting.

1. The realtors, the off-Island STR investors and AirBnb have recruited local business people by telling them there will be economic armageddon if Article 2 passes. We think most Nantucketers  are too smart to fall for that and doubt that anyone believes that limiting STR investors to 70 days per year will do damage to the Nantucket economy. Politics makes strange bedfellows.

2. The Finance Director, for some strange reason, recently opined that Article 2 will put a hole in the budget. He even didn’t consider the possibility that the demand currently being met by the STR investors renting more than 70 days will be filled by the many islanders who are not getting the rentals they want today.

3. The AirRoi data showing that there are 12 AirBnb properties generating around $1 million in rent per year, including one owned by “Caroline,” was mysteriously taken down today, only a few days before the meeting. But, you can see that document here.

4. The Current published what they call an “unscientific survey” on Instagram showing overwhelming support for article 1-hardly ethical journalism. They also refused to publish the ACK Now Community Initiatives press release announcing that the non-profit will be winding down now that the Affordable Housing Trust is taking over the Lease to Locals program. Could it be that they didn’t want the public to have the latest data showing that the program has unlocked 38 year-round rentals which are now housing 92 local workers and their families, including 21 properties previously used for STR?

5. Numerous people with financial interests in STRs have written to the papers expressing their support for unrestricted STRs with zero mention of their financial interest in the outcome of the vote, including the chair of Finance Committee. Why don’t people disclose their financial interests when opining on important matters of public interest? And, why don’t the papers require disclosure. Every time we run an ad, they insist we designate it as “ paid political advertising”-. This is hypocrisy of the first order. Maybe the Moderator will entertain a motion which requires such disclosure before speaking at the Special Town Meeting.

6. Many others have written to the papers with their own bizarre legal theories. Here are a couple of the most outrageous falsehoods:

a) STRs were a lawful principal use but the 2015 technical amendment to the zoning bylaw made them unlawful. FALSE. That technical amendment had nothing to do with the decision in Ward 2.

b) Long-term rentals are now unlawful after the Ward 2 decision. FALSE. Long-term rentals are a residential use and have always been lawful. We remember several island lawyers saying STRs were a lawful principal use five years ago and these latest pronouncements smack of those totally false and self-serving statements. Give thinking people a break and just STOP! For good reasons, voters have turned down six attempts to allow unrestricted STRs on Nantucket. Article 1 is the 7th attempt and, if it passes, will have substantially the same impact as the other six articles, notwithstanding the excess, irrelevant verbiage added by the sponsor.

The advocates for Article 1 say that Article 2 is risky for the economy, but haven’t offered any evidence to support that bold statement. How can Article 2 be risky when it allows 70 STR days, plus multiple 32 day rentals plus unlimited hosted stays?

We think Article 1 is the riskier article, and the evidence to support that belief is everywhere you look-housing, infrastructure, traffic, parking, environment, and more! We can’t imagine that voters will ignore the risks to our Island community from the continued growth of unrestricted STRs.

ACK Now Board of Directors

Carl Jelleme, Executive Chair

Peter McCausland, Founding Member

Scott O’Connor

George Spencer III

John Sylvia

Editor's note: Our poll conducted on Instagram was simple, straightforward, and unbiased. We would argue it is likely more reliable than proponents of various short-term rental articles paying a high-priced firm to produce a poll with their desired result. Mr. McCausland has apologized for calling the Current unethical. As for ACK Now's press release, we have previously reported extensively on Lease for Locals and its conversion to a public-private partnership.