ACK-Now has submitted Article 90 to our Annual Town Meeting that seeks to restrict, limit, and regulate short-term rentals. In the United States the main legal property rights are the right of possession, the right of control, the right of exclusion, the right to derive income and the right of disposition. In this country the government has four powers over private property. They are taxation, eminent domain, and police powers (which include such things as zoning, rental controls, building and fire codes and regulation of safety hazards) and, if you die without a will, escheat (make sure you have a will!). Article 90 clearly should have been submitted as a zoning article and not as a general by-law as the proposed regulations fall under police powers which impact both the use and the value of private property. It is crucial to base such a far-reaching community decision on factual information.
WHY SHOULD IT BE A ZONING ARTICLE? Article 90 asks the town, through a general by-law, to impose additional police powers on the use of private property. The article seeks, among other things, to limit the amount of time one can rent a private home, how many people can sleep in a bedroom and the number of cars a guest may bring. Because the article was submitted as a general by-law it only requires a simple majority vote at ATM to pass, not the 2/3 super majority required to pass a zoning article. This is also important because, if the article is voted down, it can come back next year. And the year after. Had it been submitted through the more appropriate channel of zoning, if voted down, it would not be able to come back, unless substantially different, for at least two years. In addition, a zoning article provides for potential grandfathering provisions which is not the case with a general by-law article.
RENTALS OF PRIVATE HOMES: There is a long and enduring history of the rental of private homes on Nantucket, homes owned by both seasonal and year-round residents. The income generated by renting one’s home helps to offset the high cost of owning and maintaining a home on Nantucket. Most importantly, for many of our visitors, it is also the only way that they can ever afford to experience Nantucket. Restricting the number of weeks (to 6.4 weeks for off-island owners) that a property can be rented will make the rental rates rise, making the island even less accessible. The article also treats year-round and seasonal owners differently which, at the very least, seems unfair.
HOW DOES ARTICLE 90 INCREASE AFFORDABLE HOUSING? There is no linkage, or evidence, that demonstrates a connection between Article 90 and any increase in affordable housing stock on Nantucket. A high-end 4-bedroom home in Surfside with a pool will never be affordable housing on Nantucket.
“INVESTORS ARE BUYING UP YEAR-ROUND PROPERTIES”: This is not accurate. A number of year-round people have chosen to sell in the past 5 years for a variety of reasons which is their right in a free-market society. Of the over 2,000 short term Nantucket rentals registered in MA, less than 1% are owned by “off-island investors” (defined as those with 3 or more properties). The Town Assessor’s Office has confirmed that the ratio between year-round owners and seasonal owners remains at 20/80 which has been consistent for the past 5 years.
“ALL THE MONEY IS GOING OFF-ISLAND”: This is not factual. A rental property generates work for local caretakers, cleaners, landscapers, tradespeople, rental agents, pool people and more. There is overwhelming evidence that owners who rent their properties out on a short-term basis support the local economy in a significant way.
WHAT IS ARTICLE 90 REALLY ABOUT? Is it really about quality of life issues such as excessive noise (we already have a by-law for this that is rarely enforced) and overcrowding? Is it about not wanting any more visitors or cars on the island? Is it about wanting to control private property rights because we are uneasy about the amount of visible change on the island in the past few years? Or is about wanting Nantucket to be the “way it was when I got here”?
A local advocacy group called Nantucket Together has been formed to make sure that the community has the real facts. The membership of Nantucket Together is over 1,300 people and growing. Please consider supporting them at www.NantucketTogether.org. It is very important that, if you are registered to vote on Nantucket, you attend ATM on June 5, 2021. If you are not registered to vote on-island, please encourage your island friends and service people to attend and have their voices heard.
The full text of Article 90 can be found here.
