Chester board considers waiting period between home sale and allowing short-term rental

Shawn Cunningham
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Forty-six days into a six-month moratorium on new un-hosted short-term rentals, the Chester Select Board appears to be leaning toward instituting a waiting period between the purchase of a property and the opening of such a short-term rental. The goal is to make it less attractive for investors to buy up housing stock in Chester then immediately convert it into vacation rentals.

The discussion of STRs has been a regular agenda item since the board voted to institute the moratorium at its Sept. 6 meeting with an effective date of Oct. 1. But board members have not felt they had the data to make good decisions on a topic that has routinely brought out community members on both sides.

But last Wednesday evening, Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow told the board that there are now 49 registered STRs in Chester with 14 of those being hosted while 35 are un-hosted. There are also three new rentals that have received a letter saying that they need to register with the town, five new rentals that have received a second letter and six that have not responded to either a first or second letter. The second letter says that the owner is in violation of the ordinance that created the short-term registry.

Bristow also noted that five owners say that they are offering short-term rentals but do not rent for more than 14 days per year, which puts them under level that is in the state’s definition of an STR. That brings the total number of STR properties to 68. There are also 17 properties that are listed on platforms like Airbnb and VRBO and are exempt from registration because they are offering rooms in established tourist lodgings. Also among those are STRs that may be advertised, but are inactive.

Board chair Arne Jonynas kicked off the discussion saying that its coming to a point where the board needs to make a decision and he suggested the possibility of making short-term rentals conditional uses in the zoning regulations as well as adding the waiting period. Jonynas wanted conditional use permits to trigger hearings where neighbors could attend.

Member Peter Hudkins said that an owner could have the conditional use permit in six weeks and that he would lean more toward the delay, which could be quickly added to the existing STR ordinance. Hudkins noted that the process of adding the conditional use would be more time consuming.

Board member Lee Gustafson wanted to know where the 49 registered rentals are located. He said that in general he does not like to legislate and would rather let the market work things out. But, he said, there are some areas “worth protecting.” Gustafson said he was comfortable with a one- or two-year waiting period in certain districts but if people were buying homes “out in the sticks” and need to rent to make ends meet and pay taxes, “who cares?”

“We’re on a path it seems,” said Jonynas who felt it’s important to get the discussion going before it becomes a problem because it will be harder to reverse such a problem than to prevent it.

Planning Commission chair Hugh Quinn suggested his panel do an impact assessment and select board members agreed.

Polly Montgomery – who hosts a short-term rental in her home in the Stone Village — said she had recently been at meeting of the Short-Term Rental Alliance and suggested that if all the STRs joined that organization, they could police each other.

“When we get together, if I know you have 20 people staying in four bedrooms, I can say ‘excuse me, that’s just not safe,’ ” said Montgomery, “I think we can police each other.”

The board is expected to take up the topic again at its Dec. 6 meeting and has asked Bristow for more information about the geographic concentrations of rentals.