Old Orchard Beach looks at short-term rental ordinance

OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The town has begun discussion on creating a short-term rental ordinance.

The town, for many years, has had definitions on the books for year-round and summer rentals. Earlier this year, the town added a definition for short-term rentals, which includes the rental of 30 days or less of any building or part of a building used for living or sleeping.

The Town Council at a workshop Wednesday night began discussion on creating an ordinance to regulate the short-term rentals.

The town currently requires property owners who rent out their property or part of their property to get a rental license, which costs $250 a year.

Town Manager Diana Asanza said at the workshop there are about 6,118 parcels available for rent in Old Orchard Beach. Of these parcels, 1031 have year-round rental licenses and 293 have seasonal rental licenses. The town has no data yet on short-term rental licenses, as it is a new category.

The Airbnb vacation rental website lists more than 1,000 short-term rentals in Old Orchard Beach.

Council Chairman Shawn O’Neill said the discussion was being held so the Town Council could get a better idea of what its options were “to get better control” of short-term rentals.

“There’s nothing definitive as to what direction we’re headed at this point, it’s just a matter of discussion,” he said.

Asanza said the town is reviewing short-term rental ordinances adopted by surrounding communities and looking at areas such as fees and fines, types of dwellings allowed, number of applications, occupancy limits and parking restrictions.

“When I ran for Council, my primary concern was short-term rentals. That really was, in my mind, the biggest challenge facing this community,” said Town Councilor Larry Mead.

He said the increased number of housing being converted to short-term rentals is diminishing the number of available houses for year-round occupancy and as a result has driven up the cost of real estate. He said it is also contributing to declining enrollments in local schools, as families with young children can’t afford to buy homes in Old Orchard Beach.

“The trend is clear, the incentives are there. That spread is just going to continue, it’s market economy. And that will change the character of our community, there is no doubt in my mind,” said Mead.

Councilor Ken Blow said he thought there needed to be an ordinance regarding short-term rentals to regulate impacts on neighbors such as parking or loud guests who are a disturbance. However, he said, he didn’t feel the town should restrict one neighborhood from having short-term rentals while allowing the practice in another neighborhood.

“Old Orchard’s always been a resort community,” said Blow, and there are less hotels in town than there were decades ago.

He said he thought it was the current housing market that was increasing real estate prices in town, and not an increase of short-term rentals.

O’Neill said that school enrollment has been declining for many years. He said that he too, would not tell one neighborhood that it couldn’t have short-term rentals, and tell another that it could.

“This is what Old Orchard has been, and always, should be. People come here to rent, to visit our businesses, our town and our beach. I don’t want to discourage that in any way,” said O’Neill.

The town council will continue to discuss a proposed ordinance at a future workshop.

Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.