Brewster Creates Short-term Rental Task Force; Will Seek Members Soon

BREWSTER – The effort to regulate short-term rental properties might have failed to gain traction at last year’s special town meeting, but the community dialogue on the issue is about to begin in earnest. 

This week, the select board created a short-term rental task force, approved the committee’s charge, and announced plans to begin filling seats on the seven-member panel.

 Though they’re a key component of the region’s visitor economy, summer rentals are blamed for changing neighborhood character, stressing town infrastructure and contributing to wastewater pollution. They also displace homes and apartments that might otherwise be used for year-round housing. Since 2019, units and homes that are rented for less than 30 days at a time must register with the state and pay a state occupancy tax.

 Last November, special town meeting voters indefinitely postponed two articles submitted by petitioner Matilda Delano which would have required short-term rentals to register with the town for an annual fee, following special rules and limitations on the number of units owned by a single entity. Opponents said the measures required additional study, and the select board announced plans to do so through a special task force. The board even identified studying the issue as a key goal in its strategic plan.

 On Monday, Town Manager Peter Lombardi delivered the board an outline for creating the task force, which will be an ad hoc group that will hold open, public meetings. The purpose, taken largely from the strategic plan, is to “evaluate impacts of short-term rentals on the health, safety, and quality of life of our residents, on the local economy, and on year-round housing availability in our community.” The group will specifically identify goals and outcomes before evaluating and recommending policies governing rentals.

 “I think it’s important to first identify and come to consensus on what the goals are that we want to achieve,” Lombardi told the board. Only then does it make sense to develop policies that achieve those goals. It’s a different approach from the petition articles, which immediately proposed policies based on ones in use by Chatham, Provincetown and other communities.

 “Different towns have taken different approaches,” and so it’s not clear what the task force’s final recommendations might look like, Lombardi said. They might include health board regulations like Chatham’s, bylaw changes or zoning amendments that would require town meeting action.

 Lombardi recommended that the task force pursue a strategy of broad public engagement, working with key stakeholders, collecting public input and communicating actively with residents about the ideas under consideration, “making sure that we get a really good, robust, thorough public process and that we’re including everybody around the table.”

 The task force will include up to seven members, with one representative each from the select board, the board of health, the affordable housing trust and the planning board. The three remaining at-large members will include at least one person with a professional background in real estate. The task force members would be appointed by the select board and would serve until next June 30, with the option to reappoint members “based on progress made at that point,” Lombardi said.

 “The only thing is, I was disappointed not to see a housing partnership person on that committee,” select board member Cynthia Bingham said. Perhaps a member of the housing partnership could serve as an at-large member, she said. 

 Select board member Ned Chatelain said he approves of the deliberative approach that Lombardi proposed, identifying goals before testing possible management actions.

 “I think that’s a very important part of this process, and I’m excited to see this task force get to work,” he said. 

 “Composition-wise, this is the right balance of stakeholder, board and committee members,” select board member Amanda Bebrin said. “But because there is also so much public interest, I think it is also really important that we have at-large seats.” Doing so will help ensure that the group considers different perspectives, she said. 

 “It’s tempting to add more at-large [seats],” select board Chair Dave Whitney said. “But large committees tend toward the dysfunctional.” Lombardi agreed, saying the nine-member panel considering the Sea Camps property had difficulty identifying meeting dates when all could attend.

 The town manager also recommended that the task force be charged with working closely with town counsel to ensure that its recommendations are in line with rapidly-evolving law based on recent court rulings.

 Staff will be reaching out to the health board, planning board and affordable housing trust to encourage them to identify members willing to serve on the task force, and the select board is expected to choose its own delegate at its next meeting. The town has also issued an invitation for citizens to apply for the at-large seats. While the task force might be ready to share an overview of its plans in time for a fall special town meeting, it does not have a firm deadline and likely wouldn’t have any recommendations before next spring.

 “That comes pretty quickly, as we all know, and it is complicated on a number of levels,” Lombardi said. 

The board voted unanimously, with Mary Chaffee recused, to adopt the charge suggested by Lombardi.