Short-term rentals face new scrutiny in York: Will town make rules for Airbnb and Vrbo?

YORK, Maine — The town is revisiting the idea of regulating short-term rentals, with thousands currently available for rent in York via companies like Vrbo and Airbnb.

“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it was three to four thousand,” Selectman Mike Estes said of the number of active short-term rentals in York.

A search for rentals in York on Airbnb shows more than 1,000 listings in the popular beach town. No town ordinance regulates them.

Town Planning Director Dylan Smith said the town’s ordinance does not explicitly allow short-term rentals in any of its zones. Smith said the town’s zoning ordinance defines “short-term residential rentals,” but does not list them as a permitted use.

“There’s a hole in the ordinance where it’s not specifically permitted,” Smith said.

Now, the Selectboard is looking to put an article before voters in 2024 that would establish regulations for short-term residential rentals. The Planning Department is crafting a draft ordinance expected to be made public in time for a Dec. 14 Planning Board hearing.

Smith said it is too early to say what the draft will look like, but an annual fee will likely be included. Selectboard members say they hope the regulations will include requirements for safety and accountability for absentee landlords with rental homes that disrupt neighborhoods.

“There seems to be momentum to get it to the voters soon,” Selectboard Chair Todd Frederick said. “If it can work by May, then that would be great.”

Push for short-term rental regulations resurrects 2017 debate

Short-term rentals have been a big business in York for more than 100 years. Still, Smith said the use of residential homes for rentals like cottages does not fit the town’s existing ordinance.

“Short-term residential rental” is defined in the ordinance as a “dwelling unit” rented for “transient occupancy,” meaning a stay of 30 days or less. At the same time, the ordinance defines a “dwelling unit” as one or more rooms within a building for the use of one or more persons living as a family. It states it “excludes… a building or space used for transient occupancy rental accommodations.”

Why York’s ordinance lacks clarity on short-term residential rentals is a “good question,” Smith said. The urgency to clarify and regulate the rentals, however, came with the increase of online rentals, according to former town manager Steve Burns.

Burns said complaints from neighbors about party houses in residential neighborhoods became more frequent as services like Airbnb rose in popularity. That led the town to consider a new ordinance regulating short-term residential rentals in 2017.

The ordinance would have included requirements for parking, trash pickup, septic system capacity and fire safety, as well as establish a fee. Burns also recalled seeking to implement a fee of $200 annually from property owners.

The proposal received significant opposition from owners of short-term rentals, however. Burns said the company Vrbo fueled this by sending notices to their owners with the town manager’s phone number alerting them their property rights were being infringed upon. His phone was ringing constantly that day, he recalled.

“Clearly, it was intended to intimidate us or just drive us nuts,” Burns said. Airbnb representatives were more reasonable, he said, its attorney willing to work with the town on crafting regulations.

The idea to regulate short-term residential rentals was scrapped in February 2017, however. Selectboard members at the time said the regulations were too much of an overreach.

Instead, the board put forth proposals that passed at the polls that year, including adding parking restrictions that required short-term rentals to have a designated space for each bedroom. Burns said that solved some of the problems in residential neighborhoods where residents felt the rentals were causing problems.

“That prevented the party houses that have 15, 20 people showing up,” Burns said. “It turned into a crazy show.”

Why York Selectboard is pushing for new regulations

Complaints have not completely gone away, however, which has led to the most recent conversation around rentals in York. Frederick and board member Mike Estes said residents from York Harbor approached the board earlier this year.

“We’ve had some pushback from residents that don’t think that it’s being managed,” Estes said.

When York considered regulating the rentals six years ago, other municipalities, like Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Portland, Maine, were still studying the measures. The state Legislature was also working on passing a law governing rentals but had seen bills shot down.

Since then, neighboring towns like Ogunquit have implemented their own regulations. Smith said the fact York has waited for others to set a precedent for regulations might make an ordinance more palatable for voters to approve.

“At this time, there’s so many towns that are around York and beyond that have short-term residential rental ordinances in place,” Smith said. “Now, the town is not the first.”

John Guy, a vacation rental manager for Jean Knapp Rentals, said it is no surprise that York is considering new regulations. He manages properties in York as short-term rentals, like the home at 180 Nubble Road listed now for $429 a night.

Guy said regulations in municipalities around southern Maine have so far been less stringent than those found in other parts of the country. He said some places restrict landowners to renting their homes for only certain weeks in the year. In Ogunquit, he said, the municipality put a seven-day minimum on rentals and requires annual inspections for safety.

“A lot of places have already put those into effect,” John Guy said. “This area might just be a little late to the game.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York Beach ME may charge fees for Airbnb, Vrbo rentals