Short-Term Rental Task Force Hands In Final Report

BREWSTER – After almost a year of meetings, hearing multiple perspectives, a public listening session with over 75 attendees and continued discussion with town staff, the short-term rental task force has finished its final report.

Rob Leavell, chair of the task force, along with Town Planner Jon Idman, were at the Sept. 15 select board meeting to present key findings.

The report details six recommendations for short-term rental (STR) rules and regulations, as well as additional recommendations and discussions about the original charge of the task force. 

Leavell said discussions with residents and local experts on the health, safety, quality of life, the local economy and year-round housing availability of Brewster provided helpful context for the final report. 

The first recommendation goes along with a widely-favored opinion heard at many task force meetings and the public listening session: establish a registration, licensing and inspection program for STRs. 

“Task force members also discovered a strong consensus for a registration system from members of the public during our August listening session,” said Leavell, “even when they disagreed with us on other portions of the report.” 

He went on to say that having a registration system would allow the town to start collecting data about STRs in Brewster and help to make other decisions down the road.

While the task force has no authority to create the system itself, the recommendation is for the select board to exercise its authority to adopt a system of this nature. 

The task force also recommended working with an existing platform, known as OpenGov, to “investigate and prepare an STR registration and licensing platform along with data import” via an application programming interface. OpenGov is a local government software used by many municipalities to manage budgeting and performance. 

The report recommended continuing discussions with hosts and STR platforms. These platforms help ensure that owners or property managers of STRs are complying with local regulations.

The task force recommended funding considerations in the final report for short-term needs. Those included an “additional building inspector and other staff hours necessary to administer and conduct ‘110’ safety inspections as they are requested,” additional money needed by the health department for inspections, initial funding for the registration platform and any costs associated with contacting hosts. 

Leavell said the remaining recommendations had a certain degree of open-endedness to them.

There is currently open case law surrounding STR zoning in Massachusetts. The task force recommends refraining from amending zoning in the town related to STRs until the law is settled and can help dictate future decisions. After that, the zoning bylaw may need to be updated to include certain policies consistent with legal precedent and legislation. 

The sixth and final recommendation concerns administrative and operational requirements. The task force agrees with following premises and inspection standards, but specifically recommends establishing maximum occupancy limitations in compliance with health and building codes. 

Leavell said the report did not provide precise figures because that was not part of the charge of the task force. 

Additionally, the task force recommends application requirements including proof of state registration and identification of a person responsible for the property at all hours, so they may be contacted when problems arise. The report suggests provisions for enforcement of these rules and regulations. 

Finally, the task force recommends fees. What those would look like and how much they would be were not specified in the report. 

Idman said the report is meant to be a reference document for the select board and the town as staff begin to consider what to do about STRs. While those six recommendations are not exhaustive, they are the guiding principles. 

“At this point, it really is the select board’s difficult job to determine exactly how you implement those things,” he said. 

Four select board members present at the meeting voted unanimously to recommend accepting the report at the special town meeting this November.