Final Update on Stonington's Proposed Short-Term Rental Ordinance

Attached you can find the Ordinance related to short-term rentals, which will go to a Town Meeting vote on February 27th. 

We very much appreciate the time many of you have taken to share your views on this complex issue. Below, you can find an overview of how we got to where we are today.

In 2017, the Planning and Zoning Commission decided that the town’s zoning code would not regulate short-term rentals.  At that time, our past Director of Planning Jason Vincent shared that if residents wished to have the town regulate the practice, they would have to propose a Municipal Ordinance and which voters then would have to approve it at a Town Meeting.

He shared: “If we really care about this, then we have to do it the right way, and the right way is to have a dialogue with the community and let people vote on it”.

And that is exactly what we set out to do. This is not a new issue and it is not a simple issue. We held four Community Conversations on this topic, and we have also corresponded with stakeholders over email, calls and through in-person meetings between these Community Conversations.

We heard concerns about the growth of short-term rentals in the community. We know, nationally short-term rental industry has grown by about 800% since 2011 and that this number is likely higher in Stonington. We heard concerns that short-term rentals are contributing to the challenges we are seeing around the State in regards to housing affordability. We also heard how short-term rentals have positively impacted our community, supporting local businesses, increasing investments in properties and allowing residents to keep their homes as costs seem to be ever increasing.

Working in partnership with our Planning Department, we have worked to offer the community a platform for dialogue, through the informal Community Conversations. The format for these meetings were based on a creative and collaborative model for discussion put forward by our Economic Development Commission to address other challenges and opportunities facing our community over the years.  

These meetings were set up to offer members of the community an opportunity to directly engage each other and to better understand the different views surrounding this issue and come to a shared understating about what it might take to find the right balance for the community at this time.  While earlier drafts proposed more controversial elements, such as a requirement for primary residency, the final draft simply requires registration in an effort to maintain a responsible party should the rental become a public safety or nuisance issue. 

The Ordinance is a result of this resident-driven process. It offers the Town a new tool to proactively manage its short-term rentals through a registration process, which will also allow for better data to be obtained in regards to the true impact of short-term rentals in Stonington.