Waterville Planning Board eyes proposed rules for short-term, residential rentals - Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel

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WATERVILLE — The Planning Board on Monday discussed possible revisions to the zoning ordinance that would allow the city to regulate short term residential rentals such as Airbnb, Vrbo and HomeAway.

Waterville currently does not have regulations for such short-term rentals, but has received a handful of complaints from residents who live near them.

The Planning Board does not have authority to institute regulations, but may recommend such regulations to the City Council which would make a decision.

Country Way resident Tom Nale urged the board Monday to regulate short term rentals. He said he and his three brothers developed his neighborhood many years ago in a Residential-A zone and there is a large house nearby owned by a businesses in Dallas, Texas, that rents it out as an Airbnb. Those who stay there share a pool, lounge, barbecue and other amenities, and there are multiple vehicles from out of state parked there. The business advertises that weddings and banquets may also be held.

Nale, a former Waterville mayor who said he has lived in the city 66 years, emphasized that he was at the meeting “as a taxpayer and nothing else.” He said the Residential-A zone, the most restrictive of the city’s residential zones, allows for homes, not home occupations. In each deed for homes on the street, there are protective covenants and restrictions, one of which is that the houses are used exclusively as single-family homes, according to Nale.

“That was our vision, April 1, 1988,” Nale said. “I’m asking that you folks don’t change that.”

Nale added that families with children live on the street, which is what was envisioned when his family created it.

“I take pride in my city,” he said. “I pay my taxes and I just ask that you folks use structured language around what can not happen in Residential-A.”

City Planner Ann Beverage said she drew up proposed language to regulate short term residential rentals at the request of City Manager Michael Roy, who had received complaints about short-term, residential rentals. She focused on Residential-A as a starting point. But Board Chairman Paul Lussier said he thought that if short-term rentals are regulated in just the Residential-A zone, that could create issues in other residential zones. If the council adopts rules, they should be citywide, he said. He and board member Bruce White, who noted this was the first time he had heard of complaints, said they weren’t ready to make a recommendation Monday to the council. Other board members agreed they needed more time to research the issue.

Waterville Mayor Nick Isgro talks to the Planning Board on Monday about mobile home parks. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

Mayor Nick Isgro said the city should take a long, hard look at the problem and discuss what people want the city to look like and draw up ordinances to match those wishes.

“The reality is, people buy a house in a residential neighborhood, they’re expecting that they have full-time residents where they’re living,” he said.

But former City Councilor Phil Bofia said most Airbnbs are operated by single families renting one room in their home to one or two people to earn a little extra money to pay their taxes and should be allowed to operate them. He said he did not have a problem with regulating short-term rentals in the Residential-A zone, but instituting blanket regulations would “completely destroy single families in the city of Waterville.”

Board member Steve Crate made a motion to postpone making a recommendation to the council and allow time for the board to continue discussions. White seconded the motion, which passed, 7-0.

In 2018, about 425,000 people stayed at Airbnb rentals in Maine, and Airbnb is just one form of short-term rental. That number is 50% more than the previous year and more than double that of those who stayed at Airbnbs two years ago.

Airbnb hosts in Maine earned $66 million in 2018 — a 53% increase over the previous year, the Portland Press Herald. Total host earnings were up $23 million from 2017, according to Airbnb.

In the Waterville area, there are dozens of short-term rentals, although it is difficult to cite just how many are within the city limits because websites advertising short-term rentals in Waterville include properties within and beyond the city’s border.

In January this year, Roy said the city had received a handful of complaints from neighbors of short-term rentals. Some of those complaints were about people hosting large gatherings and parking vehicles all over the street. Other complaints referenced neighborhoods where owners of single-family houses are now renting rooms or entire homes to many people, generating increased traffic.

People who live on streets such as Country Way, Averill Terrace and Burleigh Street filed complaints with the city about short-term rentals.

The city of Portland requires short-term rental units to be registered with the city, since the City Council there approved rules two years ago. People must apply each year and registration forms must be renewed by Dec. 31

Beverage presented possible rules for short-term rentals and clarified that bed and breakfasts are a type of short-term rental that are regulated by the city. A bed and breakfast inn, for instance, is an owner-occupied, single-family dwelling in which the residents of the property provide short-term, overnight lodging to paying guests in rooms within the dwelling or permitted attached structures. The inn functions like a private home with house guests. Breakfast can be the only meal served and only to overnight guests. Commercial kitchens and provisions for cooking in guest rooms are prohibited, and food and short term residential rental licenses are required. Bed and breakfasts are allowed in commercial zones and residential zones which allow home occupations.

Proposed rules Beverage drew up for short-term residential rentals in Waterville say people may stay in the dwelling or room for up to two consecutive months only and that short-term rentals are allowed in all residential zones except Residential-A. Each rental room must have at least one parking space and each room has to be at least 120 square feet in size. The rentals must be subject to fire department inspection and meet safety codes and have a license from the city. That $120, annual fee must be paid before the short-term rental may operate.

Beverage said earlier Monday that the Residential-A zone is the most restrictive residential zone in the city in terms of what is allowed to be there. Home occupations are allowed in the Residential-B zone, but not Residential-A. Bed and breakfasts are allowed in Residential-B.

Most of the city’s Rural Residential zones are south of Webb Road. Residential-A and B zones exist all over the city.

In other matters Monday, Isgro recommended the city institute a zoning district for mobile home parks, an issue that was discussed earlier this year when Roy sent the board a memo explaining that such parks cause a financial drain to other residential taxpayers.

Isgro said it is in the city’s best interest to create specific zoning to detail what mobile home parks should look like, and to regulate them.

White said the timing of bringing up the mobile home issue seemed “like a reaction to what just happened on the solar farm.”

“We have to be careful about reacting to something we don’t agree with, maybe,” White said. “I’m just throwing it out there.”

He was referring to what had occurred two weeks ago with a proposal by Kevin Violette to develop a solar farm on County Road. The Planning Board recommended the council rezone the property to allow for the solar farm and the council voted 4-3 July 21 to approve the zone change, but zoning changes require a two-thirds vote of the council, so it was rejected. Violette, at the council meeting, said he may develop a mobile home park there since the solar farm plan was rejected.

In response to White’s comment Monday, Isgro said that the mobile home issue was not being brought up as a reaction to the solar farm matter.

Lussier recommended the board take up both the mobile home and short-term rental issues at the board’s next meeting Aug. 24 and at meetings following that, until members come to a consensus about what to recommend to the council. Weeks made a motion to do just that, White seconded it and the board voted 7-0 to approve.

Meanwhile, Violette presented an informal sketch for a housing or mobile home development on County Road where he had wanted to develop the solar farm. He said submitting the plan may be premature because there is talk about the council’s possibly revisiting the solar farm request.

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