New Shoreham planning board advances draft ordinance limiting commercial tent use, asks staff to refine language

The New Shoreham Planning Board spent the bulk of its Nov. 13 meeting refining a draft ordinance that would restrict the use of tents and storage containers for commercial activity across the island. Chair (Speaker 1) introduced the town council's request and turned the draft over to Michelle (Speaker 3), who guided the board through definitions, exemptions and enforcement procedures.

Michelle said the draft aims to give the zoning enforcement officer clear guidance while avoiding overly technical definitions that could be gamed. "I included that it does not include awnings, umbrellas, or canopies," she said, and explained the draft leaves some interpretive flexibility so the enforcement officer can determine when a structure qualifies as a tent.

The draft would prohibit tents used for more than a set number of days in a month (the draft currently used seven days as the threshold) but carve out exemptions for catering operations, weddings, private parties, church events, farmers markets and permitted art shows. Michelle told the board the neutral-color exemption is meant to allow infrequent or visually unobtrusive tents while leaving enforcement discretion to the zoning enforcement officer.

Board members pressed on how the rule would affect long-established businesses that already use pop-up tents. "That's not an expansion of anything," Chris (Speaker 2) said of longstanding uses such as a kayak-rental operation that predates nearby development. Michelle replied that preexisting-use determinations would be made case by case and could be appealed through the existing notice-of-violation and zoning-board process; she cited the Harborside matter as precedent where an NOV was upheld.

Members discussed enforcement capacity, noting the town currently lacks a permitting process for tents and that creating one would impose administrative burdens. Several members proposed changing the threshold from seven days to eight days so weekend events would be easier to accommodate; the board signaled informal support for that change.

The board also discussed whether to limit tent size; the group leaned toward providing definitions and empowering the building department to make size determinations rather than adding a strict size cap in the ordinance.

Next steps: Michelle said she will incorporate the board's edits and draft a final version for a formal vote at the next meeting when more members are present. The board did not take a final vote on the ordinance at the Nov. 13 meeting.