The Warren Planning Commission continued its work on short-term rentals and the town’s plans to collect data about them at its Monday, July 8, meeting this week.
Commissioners said they have been processing public feedback about a draft ordinance that would require Short Term Rental (STR) owners to register with the town, allowing the town to collect data about STR ownership in the coming years. The town is ultimately seeking to understand whether and how the STR market may be impacting the availability of longer-term housing in Warren.
Public feedback on the draft ordinance was submitted through live planning commission meetings as well as through a form on the town’s website in recent weeks.
Commissioner Dan Raddock said the commission has been trying to balance the need for STR requirements around safety and ‘quality of life’ issues pertaining to noise and trash storage, without the ordinance being overly burdensome for property owners.
Commissioner Jennifer Faillace said that regarding requirements for property owners, she was in favor of simplifying the ordinance, with the town reassessing whether certain requirements are needed in the future. But Raddock said that in the process of researching STR ordinances drafted by other towns and cities, he learned that a good ordinance would create a registry of properties while also having the kinds of requirements currently written into Warren’s draft.
At its upcoming July 22 meeting, the commission will vote on whether to pass the draft ordinance to the select board, who will discuss it, hear from the public and eventually take it to a vote. Passing an ordinance is needed for the town to begin using a software platform that would house the STR registry.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
On the topic of affordable housing, a community member asked about outcomes from the October 2022 Mad River Valley Housing Summit – an event hosted by the Mad River Valley Planning District (MRVPD) that explored topics and ideas around alleviating housing insecurity in The Valley.
Raddock said that the MRVPD has been providing support to the Waitsfield Select Board in developing a municipal wastewater system for Waitsfield and Irasville villages – infrastructure that’s critical to the development of affordable housing in The Valley.
Raddock posed the question of whether there are parcels in Warren that might be critical for the town to preserve – whether for housing initiatives or other public uses. He wondered whether the town could allocate funds to the planning commission to acquire land that could be used for future housing development, in the same way that the town’s conservation commission receives funding to buy and conserve land for environmental reasons.
Chair Jim Sanford said he would anticipate some resistance to the idea that the town should acquire more property, since it already has a lot of conserved land. He pointed to the development of Irasville as a feasible alternative – with increased housing and community facilities like a day care based there, and a potential bus route linking Irasville to Warren. “It would really move a lot of people around The Valley without them having to drive,” Sanford said.
“It’s worth being bold with some of these ideas,” commissioner Macon Phillips added.
