CHATHAM — Following the lead of Orleans officials, the Chatham health board has agreed on a preliminary draft of a new bylaw regulating short-term rental properties and is sending it on to the select board for consideration. As currently drafted, the bylaw would place limits on the number of people who can occupy a rental and the number of cars they can park on a property.

The health board is asking the select board to convene a working group for regulating summer rentals, getting input from the finance committee, economic development committee and water and sewer advisory committee, with the goal of producing an article to be considered at next May’s annual town meeting. Any regulation likely wouldn’t take effect until the summer of 2024.

The preliminary draft requires owners of properties rented for less than 31 days to register with the town and sign an affidavit affirming that the property complies with the new bylaw. The proposal would limit occupancy to two people per approved bedroom, plus two additional children under the age of five per house. It limits vehicles to one car per bedroom, to be parked on the premises. Property owners would pay an annual fee of $150, which proponents say should be sufficient to cover the cost of the two additional employees the town would need to hire to administer the rental registry and carry out inspections.

The health board initiated the discussion in response to reports that some summer rentals were being publicly advertised with sleeping capacities far beyond the design limits of their septic systems. Board member Richard Edwards asked whether the town had considered taxing short-term rentals at a higher property tax rate, citing one property “that rents for $28,000 a week and is fully rented for next year.”

“I don’t think we allow it and then tax it,” board member John Beckley said. “I think we create a regulatory scheme that prevents that type of intensified, unintended use.”

Community Development Director Kathleen Donovan said town staff from different departments, assembled as a working group, would be able to consider other aspects of short-term rentals that are outside the health department’s purview. The group could decide whether these other concerns are best addressed in the bylaw “or incorporated into something larger, if that’s the case. But this is the starting point that would get us to those conversations,” she said.

Addressing concerns of excessive vehicles at some rental properties, the health board opted to limit the number of cars to one per bedroom, acknowledging that it cannot regulate on-street parking in places where that is allowed. Many streets in Chatham do not have “no parking” signs, Beckley noted.

“A home in Riverbay, if they wanted, could have six cars parked alongside the street in front of their rental,” he said.

Health board members said they don’t anticipate that the bylaw would have an overly chilling effect on the rental industry.

“The overall economic impact would not be great,” Chair Noble Hansen said. Donovan agreed.

“We’re not trying to stop [rentals]. We’re not, at this time, putting a zoning regulation into place to limit the number, or putting a cap on registrations, which some communities have done,” she said. “I don’t see it having a negative economic impact.”

Hansen said he favors a strategy of getting a simple bylaw on the warrant in time for voters to consider in May. But even if it passes, that likely wouldn’t mean that the town could regulate rentals next summer, Health and Natural Resources Director Robert Duncanson said. Any funds for new staff members wouldn’t become available until July 1, when the summer season is already well underway, he said.

“It’s going to take a year to get everybody registered,” Health Agent Judith Giorgio said. After that time, the town would be able to focus on tracking down any rentals that have not come forward and monitoring for compliance with the rules, she said.

The health department expected to transmit a copy of the draft bylaw to the select board within the next few days, with the specific recommendation that the board convene a working group to advance the proposal.

Given the number of other Cape towns that regulate summer rental properties, “we’re not breaking new ground or setting some sort of precedent,” Hansen said. “You could make the case that we’re catching up.”

A float in the 2003 Harwich Cranberry Festival Parade marked the 50th anniversary of the Harwich Historical Society. The society’s museum was a school for many years, though it’s not clear if they actually used a dunce cap for unruly students. FILE PHOTO

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