MOUNT DESERT, Maine — Approximately 220 people attended Mount Desert’s annual town meeting Tuesday night, and by a vote of 134 to 72, voters rejected legislation to license short-term rentals, seasonal rentals and vacation rentals.
After almost 70 minutes of public comment and from town representatives, voters decided to call the proposed ordinance to vote.
Voters also approved a $25,643,515 municipal budget.
The ordinance had defined three categories of rentals:
— Short-term rentals are in a person’s primary residence. There would be no cap. A resident can have as many rentals on the property as they wish.
— Seasonal vacation rentals are in properties that could not be used as year-round homes. There’s no cap.
— Vacation rentals are in dwellings that are not a primary residence and can be used year-round. These would be capped at 10 percent of the town’s total number of dwelling units and not transferrable.
All would have needed to get a license, which would have been renewable every year. The first year of the program would have been 2025 with a March 1 deadline if the ordinance was voted in. That year there would be no cap. Anyone with a short-term rental could have kept renting as long as they received a license and renewed a license every year. Unlike neighboring Bar Harbor, there would have been no inspections required. Inspections would only happen if problems were reported.
A majority of those speaking advocated against the proposed amendment.
One of the first speakers against the ordinance said that she was born in Otter Creek and is still a Mount Desert resident but is currently an active military member with at least three years left before retirement.
She said, “My family has been here for centuries, many generations.” She has rented her house both short term and long term, and she feels “that it’s nobody’s business except for mine what I do with my property. It’s a legal activity.”
She was concerned that she could lose her ability to rent her house short term if she was deployed overseas and not available to register and pay her fee. She also believes that housing will never be affordable here for the middle-class, the working-class individual.
Resident Sam McGee did not support the ordinance as drafted. He said that the most problematic part of the ordinance for him is the 10 percent cap on vacation rental permits.
“I do support creating more flexibility and inclusion in our land and building use regulations to promote more housing units and options in our town whether that use is on a short-term basis or long-term basis and whether it’s owned or rented. This ordinance does the opposite by limiting an existing right of use on private property. As my Uncle Rick said, ‘Our family has rented their properties on a short-term basis on and off since my great-great grandparents started welcoming summer visitors to their home in 1870,’” McGee said.
Gail Marshall lives in Somesville and supported the ordinance. Marshall said, “We are out of bounds. Living in and maintaining a community requires maintaining a semblance of balance. Right now, we have a system with absolutely no guardrails and no boundaries and no economic system that is without any kind of guardrails and boundaries is ultimately successful. It always gobbles up other aspects of the community.”
She went on to say that the community loses people in year-round houses all of the time and has been it for decades. The enrollment in Mount Desert Elementary School has consistently shrunk.
“It is [a] real problem that people are coming here simply to buy houses to monetize them,” Marshall said. “It is really a neighborhood that has a revolving cast of seasonal residents. I don’t get the notion that you are going to run a business renting out a home or a boat to strangers.”
Marshall also said that she doesn’t see that it is a problem to meet basic life safety codes and to remember to renew your permit every year.
Tracey Aberman, resident and owner of a business at 123 Main St., was adamantly opposed to the ordinance and said, “You cannot legislate a market. Turning someone’s property into a community event is one step away from communism.”
Moderator Jerry Miller stepped in and redirected Aberman’s comments.
Bar Harbor resident Cara Ryan spoke in favor of the Mount Desert ordinance. Ryan said that she had heard in Bar Harbor a lot of what she was hearing tonight, that it was just a handful of people from out of state who purchased houses just to rent them, and she got curious. “So, I got my hands on the list, looked up 500 non-owner-occupied vacation rentals in Bar Harbor and I cross listed it with our online tax database. Three hundred of the 500 did not have Bar Harbor mailing addresses. Most of them were not in the state of Maine; they are in Utah, they are in Massachusetts, and Florida. They are all over the country.”
Shortly before voting commenced, freshly reelected Select Board member Martha Dudman, commented that the Select Board had put a lot of work and effort into the ordinance and tried to keep the tradition of renting houses short-term intact. Dudman reiterated that anyone currently renting can continue to rent as long as they renew their license every year, forever.
Before voting on Article 22, the short-term rental ordinance, a voter made a motion to hold the vote by written ballot. The motion was seconded and approved.
While the votes were being tallied, Miller was awarded the Spirit of America Award. The award recognizes volunteerism in the community.
After the votes had been counted and the results announced, Miller asked people to please stay so that they could maintain a quorum of 50 voters. Miller asked voters to hold up their yellow cards so that they could be counted to ensure that they had at least 50 before proceeding.
This story was originally published by The Bar Harbor Story. To receive regular coverage from the Bar Harbor Story, sign up for a free subscription here.
