Planner urges streamlined short-term rental application; Select Board to reconvene STR committee

Planning staff asked the Select Board on April 27 to simplify the town’s short-term rental (STR) licensing checklist and to reconvene the STR Committee to review proposed changes.

Planner Angela LeBrecque told the board that certain checklist items are burdensome or not available to some operators: the plot plan provides information staff can otherwise obtain and creates challenges for applicants; the New Hampshire Department of Revenue does not provide Meals and Rental Tax numbers to properties managed by rental companies, and the town does not currently enforce tax payment at the property level. LeBrecque recommended removing the plot plan and the Meals & Rental Tax number from the application checklist. She also recommended allowing a Construction Approval accompanied by a Septic System Evaluation as an alternative to an Operational Approval for septic verification to align the license process with options already in the Zoning Ordinance.

The Fire Department provided licensing-status figures to the board: 94 letters were mailed to property owners operating STRs in single-family dwellings; 16 properties have applied for a license; staff will mail a second letter to owners who have not applied; since January there have been 21 new special exception inquiries and 3 grandfathering requests, and 6 properties received compliance letters requiring them to stop rental activity because they are not single-family dwellings.

Following a nonpublic session on legal guidance, the board voted unanimously to reconvene the STR Committee; Manager Judie Milner will provide the board with a list of members who can rejoin that committee. Additional legal guidance on licensing fees and grandfathering was noted as to be provided in nonpublic.