By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – The state Senate voted ought to pass amended Senate Bill 249 to prohibit municipalities from using local zoning to eliminate the use of single- or two-family residential buildings as short-term rentals.
It was a voice vote Wednesday so there was no count. SB 249 will next go to the House for a public committee hearing.
The Senate met in session at Representatives Hall in the State House to be able to maintain social distance. The 400-member House was also meeting, but in the DoubleTree by Hilton in Manchester, also for health safety reasons.
Sen. Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, said under amended SB 249, municipalities would retain all of their existing authority to regulate parking, noise, sanitation, health and safety.
“In addition, municipalities could adopt ordinances to require all short-term rentals to be registered as well as inspected and as part of that process, according to the committee amendment, it would be possible if there were violations of the municipal ordinance to pull that registration,” Bradley said.
Municipalities would be able to establish a reasonable fee to cover all of the costs associated with registration and inspections, Bradley said.
“This has been an issue that has come to the fore over the last several years with the advent of online platforms. There have been a number pf problems associated with short-term rentals in some communities around our state which has led to some efforts to use the power of zoning to eliminate short-term rentals.
“Given the importance of tourism in the state of New Hampshire, the commerce committee felt there needed to be a compromise” between continued allowing short-term rentals and in residential areas, but at the same time giving municipalities much greater authority especially through the revocation of a registration to deal with the problems that have come up with short-term rentals.
“I believe this is an effective compromise,” Bradley said.
Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth, said: “Although I also support using short-term rentals as a tool in our economy, I think we need to make sure we are doing so in a very balanced and thoughtful way.”
She agreed the bill started to address some of the problems with short-term rentals.
“That being said we need to be thoughtful about how short-term rentals affect our long-term housing supply given that we already have a housing crisis in our state and we also need to be mindful of how short-term rentals affect housing affordability and quality of life in our cities and towns,” Perkins Kwoka said.
No other Senators testified to SB 249.