As the West Windsor Selectboard continues to hone its short-term rental (STR) regulations, new adaptations were proposed and established during Monday night’s meeting.
The first new development was the appointment of an STR administrator to oversee the approval process for proposed registrations of properties that adhere to the guidelines of the town ordinance. Mark Higgins, selectboard chair, told the Standard, “The main question we grappled with during the meeting was: Where does the final approval and authority lie between short-term-unit renters and the selectboard? Since our launch date, the selectboard has been in charge of approving registrations. We have since moved to delegate the approval process to an STR administrator. The town administrator, Matt Frederick, will serve in this capacity as well. As of July 1, Frederick has been approving registrations, but he does not have the power to deny any potential STR registrations — that still lies solely with the selectboard.”
During Monday night’s meeting, the selectboard expressed concern about managing complaints or renter violations for short-term rental properties. Higgins mentioned during the meeting that there needs to be a process for the selectboard to bring violators in and discuss the situation. Various solutions were considered, but none were decided upon. Instead, the board thought it better that an STR administrator help streamline the process and aid in the communication between STR owners and the selectboard.
Another issue discussed during Monday’s meeting pertained to finding solutions for a problem that recently arose — multiple STR properties being listed under the same parcel. To have multiple properties on the same land being listed as separate short-term rental units is a violation of the town ordinance.
Deb Shearer, West Windsor Zoning Administrator said during the meeting, “If you have more than one property that you’re renting out, you need a conditional use [permit]. No one is saying someone can’t do this, but to have multiple property rentals, you have to also be cleared by the Development Review Board (DRB).”
Another component discussed during the selectboard meeting was what should happen if the property changes hands, as most conditional use cases are tied to the land, not the property owner. This means that, hypothetically, should a property with a conditional use agreement for multiple STR units sell to another person, that purchaser would not have to renegotiate a conditional use agreement with the selectboard or the DRB. To address this issue, Shearer turned to the town of Chester’s rules and regulations, as the West Windsor STR ordinance is modeled after Chester’s. Shearer said, “Chester amended their ordinance to say that if a property changes hands, it cannot be an STR for a year. The new property owner has to own the parcel for a whole year before it can be used as a short-term rental.”
This suggestion was well received by the selectboard, and they agreed to think about it and discuss further at the next meeting.
For more on this, please see our July 17 edition of the Vermont Standard.
