SACO — With the rise of online vacation sites like Airbnb and Vrbo, many communities, particularly those along the coast or with seasonal attractions, have made changes in policies for short-term rentals.

Saco is currently contemplating new short-term rental regulations, and city staff and councilors are reviewing regulations adopted by other communities.

The city currently has in place a seasonal rental ordinance that covers Camp Ellis and shoreline neighborhoods. Dwellings for rent in the designated area that are not hotels or bed and breakfasts must be rented out for periods of at least six days, and must be occupied by only one family during each rental period, according to the ordinance.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, Councilor Michael Burman said there appeared to be a lot of short-term rentals in Saco on online vacation rental sites, and he would like to get a more solid number of how many buildings in Saco were operating as short-term rentals.

He said short term rentals can be disruptive to neighborhoods with frequent turnover of tenants or unruly behavior from lodgers. Short-term rentals can also distort the housing market when homes in residential areas are purchased primarily as a short-term rental property, he said.

Burman said he wanted the city to differentiate between hosted and un-hosted experiences, as a situation with someone renting a room in the house they were currently living in was very different from a situation in which someone was renting out the use of an entire property. He said he would also like to see a distinction between a property lived in by a primary owner and rented out for a short time only once or twice a year and a property that is purchased solely for short-term rentals.

Councilor Phil Hatch said he thought monitoring and compliance were important areas to focus on when creating the ordinance.  Penalties for non-compliance should be “fairly significant,” he said. Penalizing someone $100 when they were making $2000 a week on a rental was a “mere pittance,” he said.

Mayor William Doyle said a draft ordinance regarding short-term rentals will go before the Council at a later date.

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