Andover voters reject ‘short-term rental’ article; set Monday meeting next year

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC

In an otherwise routine Town Meeting in Andover on Monday night one thing stood out. On Tuesday, the town government asked its voters to weigh in by Australian ballot on whether it should add “short-term rental” to the list of conditional uses under its zoning bylaws. But as it was discussed in the “non-binding business” article at the end of Monday’s meeting, it seemed like most in attendance — including members of the Select Board — didn’t understand what that vote would mean.

On Tuesday, Andover voters reflected that, turning down the article 123 to 70. Note: All election evening results are unofficial until confirmed by the towns.

The town’s Planning Commission and Select Board have spent a couple of years working through options for handling the rentals either through zoning bylaws or an ordinance. The board put an article on this year’s warning asking “shall the voters approve adding ‘short-term rentals’ ” to the conditional uses in the zoning regulations, which seemed to some like a binding vote.

Jean Peters led off the discussion noting that a conditional use will “follow the land,” meaning that a property that is approved as a short-term rental would be able to be used for that in perpetuity.

But board member Susan Leader called the article “non-binding” and said she hoped that the article would provide the board with “some feedback on what people want.” She also said that she is “not so sure it’s so cut and dried” and that she had heard that the conditional use would go away should the owner sell.

Board members Robin Trask and Melissa Gates-Perry also questioned whether that was the case. Trask said she had spoken with someone from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns who said it was “something being asked across the state right now.” She said she had put her “feelers out and got ambiguous answers.”

Trask said that she wants to know more about that. “I wish I would have known that in the beginning.”

Gates-Perry said the board wrestled and struggled with what to do since the rentals affect different areas of town differently. Andover has only one zoning district so every parcel in town is open to the list of conditional uses.

“I am not in the business of wanting to take away somebody’s rights,” said Gates-Perry.

One attendee who asked what would happen if the town voted “yes” was told by both Moderator Jon Bliss and Planning Commission chair Joe Fromberger that the Select Board would then begin the process of adding STRs to the list of conditional uses and look at the specifics such as the amount of time it would take to bring  existing STRs into compliance.

Paul Stumpf noted that the town has no capability for enforcement and that in the absence of clarity and with the list of conditional uses applying to everyone’s property in town, “in my opinion it’s a no vote.”

Planning Commission member Lenore Szuchman said she would vote no and explained how a conditional use works. She said that the use does indeed follow the land and offered Rowells Inn as an example, saying that it can be an inn in perpetuity. She added that the Zoning Board of Adjustment has to go by the zoning regulations. If an applicant for a conditional use meets the requirements for that use, the neighbors can say they don’t want it, but the board has to grant it. That was the case, she said, with the weekend restaurant Esmeralda on Stigers Road. The owners, she added only wanted 12 weekends a year but they could have asked for 50. Adequate parking for customers was one of the conditions placed on the permit.

Meeting date overshadows election and financials

In the  “binding” business portion of the meeting, those attending quickly elected officers, discussed budget and tax issues, voting yes on the first six of the eight articles in about 45 minutes. Then came the question of when next year’s town meeting should take place.

Former Select Board member Maddie Bodin explained that last year there was a big snowstorm on the Saturday of Town Meeting, postponing it to Tuesday when a motion to have the 2024 meeting on the Monday before Town Meeting Tuesday was approved.

Bodin objected to the day and the 5 p.m. time because it left out people who could not make the meeting time due to work. She noted that Andover’s population has gone up and at the same time the average age has gone down.  She said that the younger residents may find the timing difficult and advocated for returning to Saturdays.

Others pointed to the 80 people attending in a rather full room as evidence that the date and time is good. There was some discussion of whether a later time such as 6 p.m. would be helpful. In the end, the assembly to hold next year’s meeting on Monday, March 3.

The following people were elected to these offices:

• Moderator – Jonathan Bliss
• Town Treasurer – Jeanette Haight
• Select Board (3-year) – Robin Trask
• Select Board (1-year) – Susan Leader
• Select Board (1-year) – Richard Griswold
• Auditor (3-year) – Wendell Perkins
• Auditor (2-year) – Bill Hespe
• First Constable (1-year) – Lucas Trask
• Collector of Delinquent Taxes (1-year) – Jeanette Haight
• Cemetery Commissioner (3-year) – Robert Hale
• Sexton (1-year) – Hank Mauti