Nantucket Short-Term Rental Debate Continues

Trip

“It’s time for us as a community to end the short-term rental debate.”

Nantucket residents again rejected a proposal to regulate short-term rentals on the island during a special town meeting Tuesday night.

Voters have been grappling with this controversial issue for four years, and nearly 900 voters showed up for the most recent meeting at Nantucket High School.

Voters rejected Article 1, known as the City Council compromise proposal, which would have allowed one rental property per person, limited short-term rentals to eight leases in July and August, placed no restrictions on off-season leases, and limited owners of new rentals to three leases in July and August for the first five years (excluding properties acquired through inheritance or divorce). Furthermore, owners of multiple rental properties would be limited to one rental property after eight years. The article required a two-thirds majority to pass, and residents voted 416 in favor and 472 against.

The biggest problem with short-term rentals is investor-only properties, said Planning Board member John Kitchener, who said Article 1 addresses that problem. People who own investor-only properties never come to Nantucket and don’t invest in the community because it’s just another asset to them, he said.

Of Article 1, he said, “It certainly doesn’t give anyone everything they want. But it’s a start. And it gives most people some of what they ask for.”

Some voters disagreed with the idea that multiple property owners would be limited to one property after eight years, while others said the proposal did not do enough to regulate short-term rentals.

Article 2, proposed by the group Put Nantucket Neighborhoods First, would require a 30-day housing requirement for short-term rental operators and allow short-term rentals for one day less than the time used by the owner. Although Article 2 received a majority vote of 478 residents in favor and 394 against, it did not receive the two-thirds majority needed to pass.

Some voters opposed the residence requirement in Article 2, arguing that it was unenforceable.

Voters also rejected Article 4, a proposal that would have placed no regulations on current short-term rental property owners and would have limited new property owners to one short-term rental and three contracts in July and August. It was defeated with 147 votes in favor and 607 votes against.

Residents voted in favor of Article 544 and against 143, which will tighten regulations prohibiting short-term rental of real estate by corporations.

Some residents have expressed frustration that Islanders have yet to vote to resolve the issue of short-term rental regulations.

“It’s time for us as a community to end the debate over short-term rentals,” said Planning Board Chairman David Iverson.

The debate will continue at the next town meeting in May.