I would like to address some rumors about Great Barrington Selectboard’s Article 25 short-term rental bylaw.
Rumor #1
Tourists will have nowhere to stay, and Great Barrington businesses will suffer.
Anyone who’s driven on Route 7 knows we have many options for tourists to stay and our lively Main Street has always thrived — long before short-term rentals came to town.
Rumor #2
The bylaw will not create affordable housing.
That’s right! It is not designed to create affordable housing. This is a small piece of a complicated puzzle to address our housing crisis. The bylaw limits the commercial use of residences as mini-hotels in our neighborhoods. By having far fewer mini-hotels, we have the potential for additional long-term housing for families and our vital workforce, the backbone of our community.
Rumor #3
The bylaw was rushed through! There’s a secret plan!
The first meeting to begin work on the bylaw was in September of 2021 with the Joint Selectboard-Planning Board Housing Subcommittee. This meeting and every single meeting was recorded and is available to watch online. There is nothing secret about eight months of public meetings and citizen input sessions.
Rumor #4
Residents will be subjected to cyber spying, citizen vigilantism, and people looking in windows to try to catch you operating a short-term rental.
There is no plan to employ any vigilantes to spy on citizens’ homes. The town intends to employ software designed to track rental activity, which does nothing more than track rental activity. Of course, the town trusts everyone will comply with the bylaw, but it would be unwise not to verify compliance. Scouring rental websites is hardly an affront to our civil liberties.
Rumor #5
The town can’t tell me what I can do on my property!
Nobody enjoys talking about zoning, but that’s what zoning is. We have zoning to decide how our towns are shaped. This means your neighbor cannot open a meat processing plant next door or stage rock concerts every weekend. Don’t let your neighbor’s house be bought by a speculator and turned into a year-round hotel!
Rumor #6
My email from Airbnb says it is a bad idea!
Airbnb is now 10th in total lobbyist spending for the lodging/tourism industry and they fund organizations dedicated to limiting the regulation of short-term rentals. That’s why they emailed everyone who currently lists or has listed with Airbnb. Of course, a giant corporation doesn’t want any restrictions on their business-but, the health of our neighborhoods might depend on those restrictions.
Rumor #7
The citizen’s petition is better.
The citizen petition puts no limits on the number of days an unoccupied house can be used for short term rentals and has very weak registration requirements (note the comparison to an “annual dog license” form). This allows LLCs, which can be created by corporations as well as individuals, to buy up housing and list it in your neighborhood — all year long! Say goodbye to new neighbors and say hello to mini-hotels owned by investors
Great Barrington needs more rooted local families sending their children to our schools and shopping in our stores. We also need to help our struggling businesses secure housing for their workforce, who are leaving Great Barrington in droves due to the lack of housing.
Article 25 helps achieve that.
Article 25 is the right regulation for Great Barrington. It permits reasonable rentals and creates an opportunity for more balanced and equitable housing.
Please vote yes for the Select Board-recommended Article 25 on Monday, June 6th during the Great Barrington Annual Town Meeting.
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Leigh Davis is vice-chair of the Great Barrington Selectboard.
