City Councilors Andrew Surprise, Nick Morganelli, and Matt Emmershy just before the start of Tuesday’s meeting. (Photo by Peter Currier)
WESTFIELD- The City Council’s Zoning, Planning, and Development sub-Committee met Tuesday evening to discuss zoning ordinances for short-term residential rentals and to discuss an upcoming review of city zoning laws.
Councilor Nick Morganelli, Chairman of the committee, said that he received an email from Councilor Dave Flaherty stating that some Westfield residents are not comfortable having short term rental properties, such as those run by Air BnB, in their neighborhoods. In the email, Flaherty added that some property owners, “want the government to mind their own business on what goes on in their own property.”
“He said neighbors have complained about unknown traffic of strangers,” said Morganelli.
The committee reviewed an ordinance that set definitions and regulations regarding the use of short-term rentals. The ordinance defines such rental properties as: “Any rental of a residential dwelling unit, or of a bedroom within a dwelling unit, in exchange for payment, as residential accommodations for a duration of not more than 31 consecutive days.”
The ordinance also set to define an operator, or the person who owns and rents out the property. The definition was set as: “The person(s) offering a dwelling unit or bedroom for short term rental, who may be either the property owner or the primary leaseholder of the dwelling unit who has been authorized by the owner to make such rental.”
The committee mainly focused on the regulations of the short-term rental properties. The regulations state that the operator must either occupy the property as their primary residence or occupy a separate unit within the same building of four or fewer units.
The committee spent some time discussing what the policy would be if the operator is out of town for an extended period of time. The language of the ordinance states that if the owner is away from the property for more than 31 days, the dwelling can be rented for a minimum of one week and a maximum of the 31 days. In such a case, the operator must also designate a site manager to oversee the property while they are gone.
Councilor Matt Emmershy, a committee member, said that the one-week minimum is meant to minimize turnover and prevent a new party from renting a property every other day.
“What I think they can do instead is rent it for a week, stay for just the weekend, and go skiing in the Berkshires or something for the rest of the week,” said Morganelli. He added that the property owner would be unable to rent out the space for the rest of that week even if the customer has already left.
The number of bedrooms available per dwelling was also addressed. In the ordinance it is specified that more than one bedroom may be available only if the dwelling is occupied by the operator and if the operator is not away for more than 48 hours. The number of rooms made available to rent can not exceed the number of bedrooms in the unit.
Ultimately, the committee did not vote on the ordinance or any of the changes they had made to it. Rather, they voted to have the City Council Legislative and Ordinance Sub-Committee review and possibly send it to the Legislative and Ordinance Sub-Committee
Items four and five on the agenda were removed from committee, as the members believed that the matters had already been resolved. They concerned a zoning change on Airport Industrial Park Road and a resolution on the taxation of retail marijuana stores, respectively.
The committee then discussed an agenda item regarding a review of all city zoning laws. All 13 City Councilors voted to review the laws in this committee. The committee voted to keep the item in committee for the time being, as the three members had to go to the ongoing Planning Board meeting to listen to relevant legislation.
