LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board got an earful last week on the Planning Board's efforts to deal with short-term rentals. 

 

Planning Board Vice Chair Joe Trybus asked if the meeting if they knew that short-term rentals weren't allowed to operate in Lanesborough.

 

"I would like to know who actually knew that short-term rentals were not allowed," he said. "I even asked, you know anybody here? Because I gotta tell you something, the only reason it was discussed was to regulate them in some way, not that they weren't allowed. We all thought they were allowed."

 

Select Board member Michael Murphy said the building inspector knew and brought it to their attention.

 

"Didn't bring it to mine," responded Trybus. "You know who brought it to my attention? To be honest, it was the gentleman that owns the coffee shop. I stopped in to see how the business was. Had a cup of coffee, and honestly, it was a really good cup of coffee. And the guy got my ear. He didn't know who I was, and he said that he was getting bullied from the town."

 

The building inspector issued a cease-and-desist order to Second Drop Farm in January to shut down the short-term rental it was operating, saying it was not allowed. The farm's attorney argued that the town's bylaws recognize STRs through restrictions on parking and through taxation but the Zoning Board of Appeals upheld the violation. 

 

The farm has since filed a lawsuit against the town. 

 

Trybus said the planners at their Feb. 17 discussed making changes to the bylaws that could be voted at the town's annual meeting. 

 

"Short-term rentals is defined as 31 days or less. That's how we're going to do it. It's not 30, it's 31 OK, a registration and inspection was tabled until the next meeting," he said. "There's a little bit of arguing going on between the board to come up with a solution for that one."

 

The board tabled the discussion on inspection and registration until the March meeting but had talked about fees.

 

"So somebody comes in, registers into town, whatever paperwork we're going to have in place for that is probably like registering a business," said Trybus. "You come in, you sign your name. I don't even think there's a fee for it or we could decide that there's a $20 fee or $100 fee. I don't know when that happens. And one of the board members said, we can just make that in addition to permitize therefore the inspector gets zapped right away, and then he has to go out and do an inspection."

 

The board had also tabled ownership and entity limits but had agreed on a cap on how many days a unit could be rented out during year.

 

"Again, the board argued this a little bit, but it was voted they're allowed 365 days. I think that's a win, just my opinion," Trybus said.

 

The board had also moved forward a draft of parking restrictions, stating off-street parking is required with at least two parking spaces or, if there are three bedrooms, three parking spaces.

 

The Planning Board had also tabled a discussion on accessory dwelling units (ADU) to be used as STRs until the next meeting.

 

Murphy expressed admiration for how the Planning Board had handled those conversations.

 

"I want to commend you and the rest of that board for having — a I know it's just starting — but a thoughtful conversation," he said. "If you haven't watched that Planning Board meeting, I highly recommend you watch every minute of it to see what this board has gone through."

 

Trybus encouraged officials to speak with town residents to get some turnout at town meeting, saying too often "It's the same faces."

 

Murphy noted there were only 98 people at the last town meeting who voted.

 

"So if the townspeople, and I hope they're watching, if you really want short-term rentals in Lanesborough, you better go vote," Trybus said.

 

Trybus also discussed signage with the board, saying he didn't understand why the Country Store wouldn't have taken the small sign down if only one is allowed.

 

Murphy thought it was because there are other businesses in the location.

 

Trybus said he personally didn't feel there was anything wrong with the signage and Select Board member Jason Breault said the town should be working harder to promote more business and that over-restricting signage may hurt businesses.

 

The sign installed in the bed of the Lanesborough Local Country Store was found to be in violation, a finding also upheld by the ZBA and which is the subject of a lawsuit against the town. 

 

Trybus said he will plan to bring up the idea for two signs at 50 square feet per business instead of one to the Planning Board and will also look to see what the public says.

 

"If you want bigger signs and more of them, I can try to get the whole Planning Board to agree to write something up like that and bring it to the annual town meeting, and you can see what your public says," he said. "Because, again, it's not us. We can only bring it to them. We can only bring it to the people, and we'll let them decide."