Short-term rental regulations fail to receive approval
Sep. 14—NEWBURYPORT — The status of the city's short-term rental units remains up in the air after the City Council failed to receive two-thirds approval on Monday for zoning amendments that would regulate such units.
An estimated 138 short-term rental units have been registered with the state but the city has no regulations to govern them.
Ward 5 City Councilor Jim McCauley and council President Heather Shand co-sponsored zoning amendments to regulate short-term rentals in specific districts, excluding Plum Island.
Under the proposed regulations, owners of short-term rentals would have to live in their units for at least 183 days a year; the properties' primary use would need to be as single-family, two-family or multifamily homes; and renters would be allowed to stay for a maximum of 32 days.
Councilor at large Connie Preston submitted amendments of her own that included granting amnesty to investor-owned properties. She asked for a vote on the matter Aug. 29.
The council was unable to come to a vote that evening and decided to meet again during another well-attended session Monday night.
Councilor at large Ed Cameron voiced his opposition to the inclusion of investor-owned properties.
"There are 41 investor-owned properties that we would basically be giving an allowance and that is pretty significant," he said. "That is like taking Milk Street from Federal to Lime Street and turning that into a commercial hotel."
Preston said the 41 would be reduced to 31 because the owners have more than one unit in the city.
"We are talking about a maximum of 31 units. It will never go any higher than that," she said.
Ward 4 Councilor Christine Wallace said she has heard stories from her constituents about loud parties in short-term rental units and that she is not willing to live with a compromise on granting amnesty for investor-owned properties.
"As a ward councilor, I side with my residents and I believe their stories," she said.
Councilor at large Afroz Khan said she spoke with Newburyport police Marshal Mark Murray about the issue and supported amnesty for investor-owned properties because she does not think those owners should be penalized.
"I hope we can reach some level of compromise so that we could now start really giving people assurance that this will be regulated," Khan said.
Preston's amendments failed 6-5, with McCauley, Shand, Wallace, Cameron, Ward 1 Councilor Sharif Zeid and Ward 6 Councilor Byron Lane voting in opposition.
A motion was then made to approve the original zoning amendments, with McCauley, Shand, Zeid, Wallace, Lane, Cameron and Ward 2 Councilor Jennie Donahue voting in the affirmative.
But Councilors at large Mark Wright, Bruce Vogel and Khan, as well as Preston, voted in opposition.
The original zoning amendments needed eight votes to receive approval but fell short by one vote, so the motion failed.
Mayor Sean Reardon said Tuesday he was disappointed the council could not come to an agreement Monday night.
"I really need the guidance of the legislative branch for us to move forward with any kind of policy or enforcement around short-term rentals," he said." So I am going to have a meeting to talk about where we go from here."
The mayor added that he hopes the City Council can take up the issue again soon.
"We were one vote away last night and, hopefully, they can find a way to get to that eighth vote and really put in some good regulations and good protections for the city," he said.
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.
