In Plymouth, the Board of Health is listening and has heard the complaints of residents living in neighborhoods where short-term rentals exist. As a result the Board approved a Short-Term Rental Registration form.
Bobbi Clark has more:
Barry Potvin, who chairs the Board of Health, says there are many complaints:
“They principally have been involving noise, too many cars being parked and blocking other people’s properties. There’s a lot of complaints around what’s known as party houses—with lots of fairly young people causing a lot of problems, not disposing of trash properly and generally causing complaints by the local neighbor.”
Potvin says the department of public health is concerned about this, and…
“…we’re concerned about the septic systems and in some cases cesspools, which are often found in these short term rentals, and many of them are very close to the water and subject to flooding. Cesspools are a big problem for us because obviously, they’re not even Title 5 compliant.”
As a first step the Board approved a short-term rental registration form:
“It’s going to be posted on the Department of Public Health website. The registration forms should be completed and returned to the Department of Public Health office no later than May 28th for the current rental season.”
So, the next step can occur because two years ago the state passed a short-term rental law, and, says Potvin…
“…the new law allows local governments to regulate the short-term rentals, including licensing and registration, health, safety, location and density. But we can only do that by way of submitting it as a warrant article for the town meeting, so it becomes a bylaw.”
The board plans to submit such an article for fall town meeting.
