Warrant Article 5: Time's Up For Investor-Owned STRs

To the editor: Last week, the Inky editorial observed that “Town Meeting has taken corporate ownership of short-term rentals out of the equation.” This statement could not be more wrong on the facts and wrong on the law. If we really want, as the editorial also stated, “to keep corporate ownership out” of our short-term rental market, we must pass warrant Article 5 at the Special Town Meeting on September 17th.

Article 5 will give voters what they thought they were getting from Article 60 passed in May: a prohibition on commercial, investment-driven, short-term rentals. Article 60 was poorly worded. It only prohibited “corporations” – a very specific type of commercial business. Left free to operate on Nantucket are other commercial businesses such as real estate limited partnerships, beloved by private equity and hedge funds, and real estate investment trusts (REITs), often traded on major stock exchanges and open to investors from all over the world. These businesses enjoy tax advantages that corporations do not and play a large role in our short-term rental market.

Here’s how Article 5 works. First, it preserves the protection that Article 60 gave to properties held in family limited partnerships and estate planning trusts so they remain eligible to be short-term rentals in the Nantucket tradition. Second, it adds to our zoning laws definitions of commercial limited partnerships and investment trusts like REITs so they are prohibited from operating short-term rentals. Third, it includes a more comprehensive definition of “corporation.”

Where did these definitions come from? From our Land Bank regulations which uses definitions that are sophisticated, extensive, professional, and relevant. They have been used successfully for decades. We understand what they mean.

And they mean business. They will prohibit investor-owned, commercial businesses in Nantucket’s short-term rental market.

Please vote “yes” on Article 5 to rid Nantucket of investor-owned and investment-driven STRs.

Pamela Perun