By Adam Swift
The town council unanimously passed an updated short-term rental policy in place last week that councilors said puts more safeguards in place for the town, renters, and property owners.
“For the general framework, the zoning for short-term rentals, so things like AirBnBs or anything like that, lives in our zoning ordinance and is managed by the Zoning Board of Appeals,” said Council Vice President Hannah Belcher. “The goal of this new ordinance was to bring it up to what we know AirBnB and these types of things are now and to protect the residents that live in the neighborhoods that these operate in, and the operators. The purpose is to protect public welfare, preserve housing stock, ensure compliance and enforcement and clarity.”
Belcher said there were very little teeth in the previous ordinance, so that if there was a complaint against an AirBnB, it was difficult to determine how it should be handled.
The new ordinance hands the process over from the ZBA to the licensing board.
“There is also an inspection process with (inspectional services), public health, and fire,” said Belcher. “The renewal schedule, they will all renew on July 1, so it will be a little bumpy for the first year as everyone gets on the cycle, but that should help move things along.”
The new ordinance also includes a cap, limiting the number of short-term rentals to 1.5 percent of the town’s total housing stock, as determined on July 1 of the year.
“The idea behind this was so that we’re not overrun by AirBnBs, but we don’t want to make it so small so that people don’t have the opportunity for an income stream,” said Belcher. “Again, any ordinance can be amended as we see it in practice and it does say in here that the council can amend that cap, as well.”
The ordinance includes a $300 annual fee to register the short-term rentals that increases by 2.5 percent annually. That money will be used to help cover the cost of increased inspections and the administrative costs of the ordinance, Belcher said.
The ordinance limits the number of short-term rental units allowed in multi-family buildings, and it also requires that the dwellings must be the primary residence of the owners and that they must live in Winthrop.
The licenses will also not be transferable, so if someone sells a home that has a short-term rental license, the license is not transferred over with the change in ownership.
“Ineligible units include income-restricted units, ADUs (accessory dwelling units), non-owner occupied units, and problem units as defined by inspectional services,” said Belcher.
There are also occupant limits in the ordinance, with a limit of two people per bedroom, with a maximum of six people per short-term rental.
“This will make sure people are not using these for big bachelor parties or whatever and having 20 people in one,” Belcher said.
The new ordinance also requires the registration number to be displayed and has a more clearly defined complaint process.
“There has to be an operator agent who can respond to the property within an hour, if that isn’t the owner, that has to be listed,” said Belcher. “So if anybody in a neighborhood has a problem, they will be able to call the police or the town and somebody will be able to respond.”
Precinct 5 Councilor Joseph Aiello thanked Belcher and everyone else who has worked on the new ordinance.
“This really meets the concerns that I’ve been worried about, which is public safety, making sure that if there’s an AirBnB in your neighborhood that you know who is there, that there is a person responsible for that building,” said Aiello.