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Commission reviews new short‑term rental definitions, asks staff to research boarding‑house conflicts
Summary
Staff presented a consolidated short‑term rental (STR) framework with five subtypes and removed conflicting boarding‑house language; commissioners asked staff to research occupancy conflicts and building‑code triggers before proceeding.
Staff proposed a consolidated short‑term rental (STR) framework that creates one top‑level definition with five subtypes to replace scattered and conflicting language in current code. Chris French told the commission the categories were drafted to capture what staff had observed in the borough and to make permitting clearer.
Under the draft: STR‑1 would cover owner‑occupied rentals with no more than two guest rooms or guests; STR‑2 would cover guest‑room rentals up to five guest rooms (staff removed an older '15 persons' line as conflicting with the guest‑room definition); STR‑3 is a full dwelling unit STR for single‑ or two‑family zones; STR‑4 covers STRs in multi‑family buildings and requires condo‑association approval; STR‑5 preserves bed‑and‑breakfasts (operator resides on premises; up to five guest rooms).
"The state doesn't license short term rentals," French said during the work session, adding that, "the only thing they require for short term rentals is you have a business license." Commissioners probed a conflict in the code where a current boarding‑house definition references 'up to 15 persons' while the guest‑room definition constrains occupancy per room. Staff outlined options: define 'sleeping room' to allow more than two persons per room, add a separate exception for boarding houses, or collect additional local data about how many boarding houses remain in active use before changing the numeric caps.
Commissioners asked staff to research: how many locally defined boarding houses currently operate, whether building‑code thresholds (six or more rooms) would reclassify certain uses as hotels/motels requiring commercial building‑code standards, and whether the packet language and formatting (guest‑room versus boarding‑house terms) should be clarified before attorney review.
What happens next: staff will return with clarifying language, options for resolving the boarding‑house/guest‑room conflict, and additional research on existing boarding‑house uses and applicable building‑code triggers. The commission did not take a formal vote on code language at the work session.
