NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The General Government Committee declared the proposed short-term rental ordinance as "unworkable" and is recommending it go back to the mayor's office. 

 

The so-called "Airbnb ordinance" has been under development for nearly two years and was approved with amendments by the Planning Board last month. 

 

But the City Council two weeks ago decided that the amendments were unclear and decided a review by the General Government Committee was in order.  

 

"I had questions about where we should be going with this," said General Government Chair Wayne Wilkinson. "So I had a meeting with the mayor and with [Building Inspector William] Meranti, we sat down and said, 'Well, where are we going to take this from here?

 

"And after some considerable discussion, we decided that the ordinance as presented was just unworkable."

 

Wilkinson said he would be meeting April 29 with Mayor Jennifer Macksey, Meranti, and Zachary Feury, former Community Development project coordinator who now works for the state but who is continuing on retainer to consult on the ordinance. 

 

"I support it because this has been going on for over two years. It's gone nowhere," said committee member Peter Oleskiewicz. "I believe that between him and Mr. Meranti we can iron out and get some kind of ordinance in place and over time."

 

There had been a number of objections to the ordinance, including the requirement for professional managers for buildings where the owner did not live. 

 

It also did not include a cap on the number of units that the city could host, which several councilors and Meranti agreed would be worthwhile.

 

While the state has required owners of short-term rentals to register to pay rooms taxes, it's left regulation of units up to towns and cities.

 

Meranti's concerns have been that the units may not be in compliance with building codes and therefore a safety liability. They are technically illegal in residential zones because short-term rentals have been defined transient uses — motels and hotels — in commercial zones. He thought the language in the proposed ordinance could be streamlined and clarified. 

 

Committee member Ashley Shade felt it was urgent to get at least a "bare minimum" of registration and compliance certificate approved even before a full ordinance was hammered out. 

 

"There are a lot of short-term rental, owner-occupied people right now who have already rented out their homes, who are technically doing something that's not within the building code," she said. "And many of these people who are running these and operating these do so during the summer months, so if we can have an ordinance in place before then it limits our liability as a city and also protects them. So it's urgent to me."

 

Wilkinson suggested she could put it before the City Council and see if would be accepted.

 

City Councilor Keith Bona took issue with comments that the ordinance hadn't worked "for both sides" when inspection services had supported it. 

 

"I think what happened is the council, we got pressure. We got several Airbnb people that brought it to us and brought us questions and 'why are we doing this?'" he said. "I think clearly a lot of what they're upset about we don't have control over, Mr. Meranti, he doesn't have control over. ... This is the code. And so I don't know, in a sense, what we're supposed to be changing to this. We were sort of asked to turn a blind eye."

 

A number of other communities are trying to adopt bylaws to limit and manage the number of short-term rentals available. City Councilor Marie T. Harpin, who also attended the meeting, pointed to the efforts in Great Barrington, which is seeking to ensure such units remain residential prevent them from replacing long-term housing. 

 

Shade said her thought was that owner-occupied rentals would be preferable, but that non-owner occupied should be capped at something like 5 percent of available units.

 

The committee voted unanimously to recommend back to the mayor's office.

 

"Our intention is to trim it down, simplify it," said Meranti. "But the meat of it will still be there."