<div dir="auto">Richard, in Dennis the Board of Health regulates rental units, short and long term rentals. This has been on the books for a few decades.<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Below is my last memo on this issue before I retired. Pardon the formatting. Cut and paste on cell phone is not too good.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Daniel FORTIER AICP </div><div dir="auto">Retired Town Planner </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto">RE: Short Term Rentals</div><div dir="auto">This is an update to a memo I prepared back in January, now serving a very different </div><div dir="auto">purpose. Tomorrow night the Zoning By-law Study Committee will be entertaining a </div><div dir="auto">request to bring forward a zoning proposal to prohibit Short Term Rentals in Dennis.</div><div dir="auto">This analysis was first proposed to consider the impact of the Styller decision that related </div><div dir="auto">to Short Term Rentals in Lynnfield in particular, but established a test for all </div><div dir="auto">communities to consider as to whether Short Term Rentals need specific zoning to be </div><div dir="auto">considered allowed. I am leaving my initial analysis as to short term rentals as originally </div><div dir="auto">written in January, but will add to the end issues that need to be considered related to any </div><div dir="auto">potential zoning amendment prohibiting such use of homes/</div><div dir="auto">Below is a map prepared by Alicia illustrating the dispersion of licensed Short Term </div><div dir="auto">Rentals in Dennis. The map illustrates that, outside of perhaps the Quivet Neck/Crowe’s </div><div dir="auto">Pasture Resource Protection Area and Industrial Zones which do not appear to have any </div><div dir="auto">short term rentals (STR), STRs are fairly common throughout town. The R-60 Zoning </div><div dir="auto">District, located around Sesuit Neck Road, Sesuit Harbor and Chase Garden Creek/Black </div><div dir="auto">Flats area, might be the least concentrated zoning district with at least some STRs.</div><div dir="auto">However, since there are fewer housing units in this district, concentration may be low, </div><div dir="auto">but percentage may not be much different than other, more concentrated Zoning Districts.</div><div dir="auto">In the 2020 Census the town was reported to have 15,799 housing units, of which 7,436 </div><div dir="auto">are year round occupancy and 8,363 units are seasonal.</div><div dir="auto">The Board of Health has licensed, in 2021, 1,598 STRs. Essentially, 10.1% of all housing </div><div dir="auto">in Dennis is used as a STR, and 19.1% of all seasonal units are used for STR purposes.</div><div dir="auto">In footnote 16 of the Styller Decision (<a href="https://www.massdirtlaw.com/wp">https://www.massdirtlaw.com/wp</a>�content/uploads/2021/06/Styller-v.-Zoning-Board-of-Appeals-of-Lynnfield.pdf ) the </div><div dir="auto">Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court noted that “He did not, for example, show that short term rental use was customary in the zoning district,”. The Court did not define
</div><div dir="auto">what percentage of the housing stock being used for STRs would illustrate such a use as
</div><div dir="auto">being customary in the zoning district or community.
</div><div dir="auto">We have discussed in the past, since the Styller decision came out, having the Building
</div><div dir="auto">Commissioner/Board of Appeals make a determination that STR’s are a customary use of
</div><div dir="auto">housing units in the Town of Dennis. I believe that the numbers, on a town wide basis
</div><div dir="auto">would support this. As the SJC suggested it might be a decision that is needed on a
</div><div dir="auto">Zoning
</div><div dir="auto">Issues to be considered
</div><div dir="auto">1. Residential Rentals are regulated under General By-law Chapter 113 Housing
</div><div dir="auto">Space and Use. The zoning by-law defines dwelling unit, but is silent on whether
</div><div dir="auto">dwelling units are renter or owner occupied.
</div><div dir="auto">2. The Haven Center court case on recreational marijuana reinforced that if a town
</div><div dir="auto">regulates a use in its Zoning By-law, in general, it cannot also regulate it in its
</div><div dir="auto">General By-law. Stepping into zoning with rental regulation will create conflicts
</div><div dir="auto">with Chapter 113 and existing Health Regulations.
</div><div dir="auto">3. With over 10% of the town’s housing already subject to some level of short term
</div><div dir="auto">rental permit, identifying vested rights will be a difficult challenge.
</div><div dir="auto">4. In FY 2021, from the Town Report, Dennis took in $2,182,042 in short term
</div><div dir="auto">rental taxation. While a portion of this is from traditional motel rooms, the rents
</div><div dir="auto">on homes used for Short Term Rentals, and the sheer number of homes in this
</div><div dir="auto">use, suggest this figure would be heavily impacted by a prohibition. The town has
</div><div dir="auto">dedicated a portion of this tax to Waste Water, which will be direly impacted by a
</div><div dir="auto">prohibition.
</div><div dir="auto">My immediate reaction is that, at a minimum, the Board of Health and the Waste Water
</div><div dir="auto">Committee both need to be made aware of this and actively participate in the ZBSC
</div><div dir="auto">discussions. Finance Committee and Select Board probably also have a strong interest in
</div><div dir="auto">what gets proposed. Town Counsel may also want to opine on the risks of bringing into
</div><div dir="auto">zoning something that has traditionally been regulated through the General By-law.</div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Dec 20, 2023, 11:34 AM Richard Clark via MassPlanners <<a href="mailto:massplanners@masscptc.org">massplanners@masscptc.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:arial;font-size:16px"><div dir="ltr">Hello,</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Looking for information on how communities have dealt with STR's. Any by-laws or proposed by-laws pertaining to these rentals would be much appreciated. Big question raised locally is will any return in taxes and /or fees offset cost administration and enforcement.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Thank you, </div><div dir="ltr">Richard Clark, Planning Board</div><div dir="ltr">Town of Dudley, MA</div></div></div>-- <br>
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