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Select Board weighs in-house STR complaint database as complaints grow
Summary
Board member Christie Boswell said there are 116 short-term rental licenses and rising complaints about owners violating the ordinance; Town Administrator Karoline Wallace will build an online complaint form and in-house database to identify offenders and reduce dependence on a paid Deckard service.
Member Christie Boswell told the Select Board the town currently has 116 short-term rental licenses and said many residents are reporting ordinance violations. "There are a lot of complaints about owners not obeying the ordinance," Boswell said, and she described efforts to identify advertising sites and noncompliant properties.
Town Administrator Karoline Wallace said she has drafted an online complaint form and plans to create an in-house database to save money and potentially replace the Deckard service the town currently uses. Wallace and Boswell will coordinate the database and enforcement follow-up; the Board did not take immediate enforcement action at the Aug. 5 meeting but instructed staff to continue building the system and to report back.
Boswell said some owners are updating properties to legally increase occupancy and that the town must distinguish compliant upgrades from rule violators. The Board also authorized Wallace to send a letter to a homeowner tied to a separate STR-related nuisance complaint (the "lumpy driveway" garbage issue).
