NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Owners of short-term rental spaces say the city's proposed regulation of such units will be overly burdensome and have a negative economic effect on themselves as well as North Adams. 

 

Those attending Monday's joint public hearing with the Planning Board and City Council were particularly concerned about language requiring "professional management" and whether they had to comply with onerous inspections.

 

"I believe that if this ordinance passes, no matter what zone they are in, it will negatively impact every single Airbnb in the city," wrote Erin Scott, a Realtor who owns two units in the city, to the boards. "I am all for being regulated but I am not in favor of being regulated unrealistically. This ordinance seems like it's an all or nothing ordeal. I don't believe it's been thoroughly thought out as to who is going to enforce and regulate the ordinance."

 

The ordinance has been in the development process for a few years. The city had looked to the state for setting guidance but the Legislature basically passed the buck by imposing a tax on short-term rentals, requiring online bookers to register and giving municipalities parameters within which to make their own rules. 

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey, who attended the hearing, said any recommendations that come out of the hearing will be discussed with the City Council.  

 

Area residents have been renting out rooms and homes for years to accommodate the influx of artists, actors and musicians every summer, and the region is dotted with bed and breakfasts. But the advent of the internet and online bookers such as Airbnb and Vrbo has allowed not only the average homeowner to rent a room for a few weeks but made way for a growing investment market.

 

They were close to 60 short-term rentals listed on Airbnb this week.

 

"My estimation of why we're doing this is because the City Council saw that it was a sort of new and interesting development, that the city of North Adams seems to have the need for short-term rentals other than the hotels and motels that we have," said Building Inspector William Meranti. "From that arose, 'how do we regulate to some small degree how this happens?' The building code has its own version of regulation of how you use these single-family and multi-family homes."

 

The proposed version of the ordinance was drafted by Zachary Feury during his time in the Office of Community Development. Feury has since taken a job with the state and so was not there to explain the reasoning in the regulations. 

 

City Councilor Keith Bona had initiated the ordinance, saying "my push was to have some kind of inspection of shared housing to make sure that they have, you know, fire alarms, second exits, proper railings, things like that. Whatever the similar inspection was for apartments, I feel short-term housing shoul have. That was all I was requesting is to have some kind of inspection, where they went from that, I sort of stepped aside let the committees do their things."

 

Councilor Ashley Shade asked Meranti if the ordinance is dictated by state law and why the preference for professional managers. Meranti said it was about having someone who knew the building. 

 

"I don't want you to think that this is mimicking anything. I don't want you to think that we're changing anything in this state building code," he said. "The state building code defines things that are transient in nature in a certain way, which requires certain things of them in the construction and the operation. No matter what is decided here tonight, or in the future, we're not going to change the building code until the state changes the building code."

 

The inspector said he has been asked by people about permission to rent out units "and my answer typically was, you can't there. They're not allowed under the state building code for under our zoning for apartments, which would not allow some of these uses in residential zone. ...

 

"This ordinance would fix the zoning side of that. They would allow this short-term rental to happen in the zones throughout the city. Provided that you meet these regulations and that you operate them correctly."

 

Jessica Sweeney, a former city councilor, said she doesn't own and Airbnb but has frequently used them. Her concern was more about how the city can balance them with the need for more longer-term affordable housing. 

 

"I also want to be really cognizant that we're having some difficulties in preserving housing and affordable housing for people in our community," she said. 

 

The ordinance delineates between operator-occupied, owner-adjacent and professionally managed.  

 

Michael Lord, who rents out a Harding Avenue home with his brother and sister, said he appreciated the perspective on safety but their concerns were about forcing them to hire a commercial property manager.

 

"I can't speak for the entire short-term rental market in North Adams but we do a pretty good job with it and we make sure our property is maintained, just as it always has been," he said. "You can find a lot of public information posted on [the online booking] websites, like about our house, you give it a review, or at least we're subject to review every time somebody visits and we get a public discussion of what our accommodations were like. And certainly if there are safety or health issues, you're going to see that. It's a competitive market."

 

Anna Salmeron said she doesn't live next to or within her building but she does live in the city — but the ordinance doesn't cover her. 

 

"I think this approach treats all Airbnb owners as if they are a problem rather than dealing with them on a one-by-one basis," she chatted to officials. "Why would an owner need to use a professional management company? That would seem to benefit the big shots who do this is a large business."

 

From Angela Rocca's reading of the ordinance, it would only allow her to rent out one the three units in her home because she lives in one. 

 

"It looks like somebody out of town, even a developer investor, could have come in bought that house and rented out all three units short term at any given time, because there doesn't seem to be a restriction on non-owner occupied short-term rentals," she said. "I have been concerned with that one unit limitation."

 

Brian Miksic, who stepped away from the Planning Board to comment as a citizen, said the ordinance, in his opinion, would "effectively ban second-home owners from being able to Airbnb their property because it will put them into a distinction of an R1 in the building code. ... what that means is they would be treated like a hotel. 

 

"So they would have to, in the change of use of this property, would have to potentially install sprinkler systems and potentially meet ADA requirements and potentially have to have fire and smoke alarm systems tied into the city, just like a commercial building would be, which would be financially untenable."

 

Miksic noted that when he had first visited North Adams nearly a decade ago, he stayed in an Airbnb and then returned to buy it as his family home. He also manages some Airbnb properties.

 

"The city has managed to have all of these happening and there have not been massive amounts of problems with these properties," he said. "I fear that the investment and loss of tourism dollars that could come from passing this particular ordinance would be absolutely terrible for this community that is trying to grow, and is searching for that investment to help with our housing stock."

 

Scott, in addressing the council, agreed, adding she's had more than 400 happy customers. 

 

"We want them to come spend their money here, improve our economy, and I just want to keep things going and I want us to all work together to make things right and safe, number one," she said.