Are Warwick's 73 short-term rentals a nuisance? A new plan would eliminate most of them

WARWICK — Bill Gagnier pulls out the rule book for his short-term rental house in Pawtuxet Village, just one lot away from the river.

The binder has instructions on how to operate the TV and streaming services, where to eat, where to find things in the house, and what the rules are, such as don't park on the lawn.

Gagnier said he always makes sure a bottle of wine stands in front of the rule book, to ease his guests into it.

Under a set of regulations written by the city's Planning Department and proposed by City Councilman Edgar Ladouceur, Gagnier's short-term rental would be banned because he does not live in the building.

When the City Council opened a public hearing on the proposed ordinance Monday night, 16 short-term rental owners welcomed regulation of the industry but decried the elimination of their livelihoods through an owner-occupancy mandate.

Owners of short-term rentals in Warwick came out in droves

Sixteen short-term rental owners spoke against the ban on rentals that are not occupied by their owners, pointing to their stellar records, reviews and the income those rentals create for the community, such as house cleaners, electricians, plumbers and landscapers.

The owners also complained that the city Planning Department, which wrote the ordinance, did not include them in the drafting.

Planning passageWarwick contemplates banning all but owner-occupied short-term rentals

One short-term rental owner who lives in her unit, Cindy Wilson, said she wants the city to pass the ordinance banning her non-resident competitors; she also said the units are unfair competition for hotels.

Warwick resident Robert Byrne said an owner-occupied rule is needed to prevent party houses but did not say that he has ever had a problem with short-term rental properties.

Gerald Galleshaw, who owns short-term rentals in Oakland Beach, is organizing fellow owners, along with Gagnier. In an interview, he pointed to the use of monitoring technology, sold by Minut, which measures how loud it is inside a residence, how many phones are inside, and notifies the owner if it gets too loud in the house.

Galleshaw said operating the short-term rentals is one of the few things he can do because of a physical disability.

What happens to the ordinance next?

At the end of the hearing, Ladouceur asked that it be put on the agenda for the second meeting in December, just before Christmas. Because it deals with zoning, the city has 45 days to take action on the ordinance before the process must start over.

Ladouceur said his primary concern continues to be the requirement that short-term rentals be occupied by their owners.

How prolific are short-term rentals in Warwick?

There are three metrics to measure short-term rentals in Warwick. Councilman Timothy Howe said the Police Department only has 17 registered addresses, the state's newly implemented short-term rental registration program shows 23 units and the analytics company AirDNA puts the number of "active" rentals at 73, mostly clustered along Warwick's waterfront.

Are short-term rentals causing Warwick's housing crises?

Councilman Anthony Sinapi said he has "lost count" of the number of constituents who have called him because they are pushed out of the Warwick rental market by rising rents at the same time short-term rentals are cropping up.

Ladouceur also cited the 73 short-term rental units as part of the reason for Warwick's skyrocketing rents.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's housing figures for 2010, the last year available, single-family homes made up 72% of the city's housing stock, 27,239 houses, with a total of 37,730 residential units in the city.

Those 73 short-term rentals, some of which are in multi-family buildings, represent 0.19% of Warwick's housing stock.

The city's four residential zones allow the building of single-family houses only, while the "village district" allows up to four-family buildings by right and requires a special permit for more units.

Apartment buildings are allowed only in the city's "gateway" and "intermodal" districts, which are the areas surrounding the airport.

Banning single-family zoning has been floated in the General Assembly as a way to deal with the state's housing crisis, where demand has outstripped supply.

In an interview after the meeting, Sinapi said Warwick is working on rewriting its zoning rules, but that increasing density in the city would be "a more difficult conversation."

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Are short-term rentals already illegal in Warwick?

Councilman Vincent Gebhart said the city's current zoning regulation outlaws all short-term rentals in the city and that if the city receives complaints, it will send cease-and-desist letters to the owners.

While a law may be on the books in Warwick, in 2021, former state Superior Court Judge Susan McGuirl found Barrington could not prevent the Rhode Island School of Design from renting its beach-adjacent house at 15 Freemont Ave. in Barrington, near its now closed parking lot at Tillinghast Place. While the town could regulate short-term rentals, it could not use an ordinance governing how many people can "live" in a house to ban them altogether.

The legislature, in the same bill that created the state registry of short-term rentals, which was vetoed by Gov. Dan McKee and then overridden, also barred cities and towns from "prohibiting" owners from offering the rentals on online platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO.

Owners question city's reasoning for rental ban

Greer Gagnier, the daughter of Bill Gagnier, who runs her own short-term rentals, told the City Council she requested records from the city that would show that short-term rentals are a nuisance or problem as outlined in the proposed ordinance, which calls them "the source of noise, congestion, pollution and disorderly behavior."

She said the Police Department had no records, the Building Department had no records and the Planning Department had no records, while the Property Maintenance Department had 11 complaints over the past two years, but the city did not provide the actual complaints, or say whether they were all coming from the same person.

Councilwoman Donna Travis, who co-sponsored the ordinance, claimed, incorrectly, that short-term rental owners don't pay taxes like hotels do. The state's registration requirement and ban on cities and towns preventing the listing of short-term rentals is tied to payment of hotel taxes by short-term rentals. Gagnier said during the hearing that he pays thousands in hotel taxes each year.

Travis said more people have complained about short-term rentals but were afraid to do so publicly, instead coming to her confidentially.

What would the short-term rental ordinance do?

Under the proposed zoning change, owner occupied short-term rentals would be allowed in the city's four residential zoning districts and the "village district." They would be banned in all of the other commercial districts.

The ordinance would also ban any "accessory" dwelling units, or accessory structures, from being offered as short-term rentals.

Readthe proposed short-term rental ordinance

If the zoning changes pass, short-term rentals would require a permit from the city each year.

The maximum number of people allowed at a short-term rental would be capped at two people per bedroom, and an additional two people per unit. So a 2-bedroom rental would only allow six guests in the proposed regulations.

The short-term rental units would also be required to provide off-street parking of one space per bedroom, plus one per house. A 2-bedroom rental would require three parking spaces.

Weddings and "other special events" would be banned at short-term rental properties and venues that have weddings would separately be banned from offering short-term rentals.

Guests at the rental would also be required to provide the landlord with their name, home address, phone number, vehicle registration, and the landlord would need to hand that information over to city officials investigating any "offenses" related to the guests, according to the proposed rules.

Fines for violating the zoning rules would be $100 a day for a first offense, $250 a day for a second offense and $500 a day for third and subsequent offenses. Three offenses would be grounds for a permit revocation, lasting a year, according to the proposed rules.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Warwick plan to curtail short-term rentals faces fierce opposition