Work group, county cooperation next steps for short-term rental enforcement

(July 2, 2020) After some debate, Ocean Pines Board members on Wednesday agreed to further study the issue of short-term rentals in the community, rather than take immediate action. 
 
That decision was made easier, in part, because Board members said the county had already levied fines against several problem properties. 
 
Short-term rentals — and specifically complaints related to noise, trash and other disturbances — were the subject of a previous meeting, when Board members discussed a rental on Abbyshire Road. 
 
During a regular Board meeting on Wednesday night, Director Frank Daly introduced a motion “to direct legal counsel to develop the wording necessary to amend the Declarations of Restrictions in all sections to ban rentals of less than one week and once established to place that question before all homeowners in a Referendum vote.”
 
Daly said there are roughly 180 homes in Ocean Pines listed on rental websites like Airbnb and VRBO, that “are embraced by a number of homeowners and detested by others.” 
 
He added Worcester County legislation related to short-term rentals was “largely voluntary” in terms of registration and the county “lacks funding for enforcement.” He later suggested county regulations have “been largely ineffective in handling the problems in a timely manner,” and that municipalities in Worcester can pass and enforce their own zoning laws but Ocean Pines, as a homeowners association, cannot.
 
“The number of homeowner complaints last summer and the number of homeowners that ascribe to these rental programs makes this a community-wide issue that justifies a referendum,” Daly said. 
 
Daly admitted changing the Declarations of Restrictions might be a hard sell, and said he would also introduce a related motion to ask the county for text amendments.
 
He said county officials made it clear they would support text amendments specific to Ocean Pines short-term rentals, “if so requested.”
 
“The outcome of this referendum will provide guidance to the Board [on] whether or not to request this action,” Daly said. “Passage of the referendum and a request for a text amendment regarding short-term rentals will provide the community with the strongest possible regulation and restriction on short-term rentals.”
 
Director Tom Janasek said the issue has come up now, specifically because of the large number of complaints received about the rental on Abbyshire. Not all rentals, he said, cause such problems.
 
“We’re basing it [the proposed referendum] on some properties in the Pines that are blatantly disregarding the rules that the county has put forth, last year, in order to make sure that this doesn’t happen with rentals,” he said. “My personal opinion is, I don’t think we should get involved more than we already have.”
 
Janasek said Board conversations with the county during the last several weeks caused county zoning officials to “actually get off their butts and … go after these people.” He added funding for enforcement comes from the $200 license fee for each of the many rentals in the county.
 
“To say that they lack funding for enforcement … I don’t believe it,” he said. “I think that, as a community and as a Board, we’ve done the right thing in going to the county and saying, ‘This is your law — you made it, it’s time to start enforcing it.’”
 
Janasek said he would not support the motion because it was not necessary, and because of the expected high cost for a referendum. 
 
Daly countered that on Abbyshire, for instance, homeowners recently complained to the county and were told, “Our hands are tied, we can’t do anything.” 
 
“That is not acceptable,” he said. “[If] somebody at 1:30 in the morning explodes fireworks in front of your house on a Friday, you don’t want to wait until Monday morning to file a complaint that says, ‘I can’t do anything, my hands are tied.’ And you don’t want a policeman from Ocean Pines … that says, ‘I can go talk with them, but I can’t do anything.’ And that’s the situation today.”
 
Despite the county legislation passed last year, Daly said Ocean Pines was largely “in the same place today that we were last year” with regard to issues of short-term rental enforcement. 
 
“I don’t want to be in the same position in 2021 — that’s why I want to get this in front of the people [and] let them make the determination,” he said. “Not one of us sitting here [on the Board], when we were running for election, had a question asked of us about how we feel about short-term rentals, and I don’t think seven of us should try to determine whether we have them or whether we don’t, or whether we get the text amendments or whether we don’t. 
 
“We have 8,452 possible homeowners affected — let them decide, after they hear from all the stakeholders,” Daly continued, adding the conversation should also include realtors and rental agents.
 
Director Colette Horn said she was interested in exploring reforms, but suggested any reforms need to “include enforcement that is enforceable … and that is it rapid and [allows for] significant penalties.”
 
Horn was not in favor of the referendum approach, but said a town hall or a survey may be a better way to gauge public interest. 
 
Director Larry Perrone argued that restricting rentals of less than a week is not as important as making sure existing guidelines are enforced on the number of people permitted, per rental. 
 
“All of that leads to the amount of trash and, ultimately, leads to the noise problems,” he said.
 
“[Banning] renting properties for less than one week, I don’t think that’s the solution,” he continued. “But I do agree that we need to do something to try to get control of the properties that are out of control. My real problem is the enforcement issue and how timely it could be.”
 
Perrone said that during talks last year with County Commissioners Chip Bertino and Jim Bunting, and another county official in charge of zoning enforcement, “they made it perfectly clear to us, there would be no enforcement of this.”
 
“They said that from the very beginning — they’re not putting funds aside for it,” he said. “I was shocked that they jumped all over this particular property we’ve been talking about [on Abbyshire] as quickly as they did.”
 
Perrone added that Associate Vice President Steve Tuttle has been effective in communicating problem cases related to short-term rentals, to county officials. 
 
Tuttle said he spoke to Bertino after the recent spat of complaints, and he was referred to Ed Tudor and Jennifer Kenner from the Worcester County Department of Development Review and Permitting.
 
He said Tudor visited Abbyshire as recently as Saturday morning and learned the property in question is being rented by someone living in Connecticut who, in turn, is renting it as an Airbnb without a license. Tuttle said county officials issued a citation and are also looking into fines for another derelict rental. 
 
“They’re taking action on these properties,” Tuttle said. 
 
Janasek also credited county officials for stepping up, saying they’ve now “gone after two properties in two weeks.” He said that action has now created a precedent.
 
“Now that that’s set, as far as I’m concerned, they’ve got to start going after the rest of them, if we start bringing it up,” he said.
 
He also said not all short-term rentals create problems. 
 
“No matter how bad these 10 properties [are] … there’s another 150 that bring people into this community and spend a lot of money,” he said. “I think banning short-term rentals is so overblown … as Larry said, I don’t think it solves any of the problems.”
 
Association President Doug Parks agreed. 
 
“I’m not convinced that banning short-term rentals is the solution we’re looking for,” he said. “Folks aren’t worried about the semantics of [short-term rentals] … they’re worried about the things that disrupt them which, in this case, is noise, trash, and parking.”
 
Instead, Parks said he would support “the notion of text amendments” to county code, to allow for “some level of enforcement by our Police Department.”
 
He said Daly, Tuttle and Director Camilla Rogers were part of a workgroup already looking into the issue, and that more coordination with county officials was needed to help improve the urgency of enforcement. 
 
“I think a partnership with the county … with some level of enforcement is the way to go,” Parks said. “I’m not going to vote for banning short-term rentals, but I do want to have some momentum going forward that will allow us to have some enforcement, because we clearly have to address these issues as quickly as possible.”
 
Tuttle agreed the workgroup should continue exploring the issue, rather than going the referendum route. He added one of the biggest problems is with long-term renters who are then offering short-term rentals of properties they do not own.
 
He asked that residents report problems with rentals in their neighborhood. Board members can be reached at [email protected] and contact information for individual Board members can be found at www.oceanpines.org/web/pages/board-of-directors.
 
“The county will take action if we put enough information in front of them,” Tuttle said, adding for those properties that do not have a rental license, “they [the county] have lots of means to bring pressure to bear. So, I think our residents need to help us as well.
 
“I’m not in favor of this motion as it stands, but I’m very glad to work on a workgroup, to try to come up with ways to improve this situation,” he added. 
 
Daly’s referendum motion was defeated 6-0 with one member, Rogers, not present during the meeting. Daly later withdrew his motion related to text amendments. 
 
To view a video of the meeting, visit https://youtu.be/OGSqfCSxmf4.