Town of Otis
Planning Board Meeting Minutes December 12, 2022
Call to order 7:00 PM
1. Roll Call:
Terry Cook-Visser- Chair
Mark Anthony
Jim Kauffman
Barb Gallagher
2. Approval of October 11, 2022 minutes
Terry motion to accept, Jim second, all in favor.
3. Approval of November 14, 2022 minutes
Jim motion to accept, Barb second, all in favor.
4. Short Term Rental Bylaw Discussion
Page 5 added recycling, confusion around how town will deal with recycling for STR, discussion with town and board of health, should be no need for a separate category for str transfer station passes,
Trash cans/ dumpsters, bears, add no outside waste containers allowed, up to owner to deal with that, outside waste, owners of rental properties might not be aware of bear issues
Question, bedroom issue, septic design, need a better understanding on how registration and enforcement will work. Still want to use board of health record because it is easier on the enforcement side of things, still working on logistics at this point.
Health code violation inspections take a considerable amount of time and resources.
Rentals can provide additional income needed to upgrade septic systems,
Bylaws give enforcement for when something goes wrong,
Question, do you know who is registered with the state, Response, no you can’t get exact information from the state, can only get word out locally, make air bnb and vrbo aware of bylaws.
Need for this driven by state of mass case that stated need for bylaws for STR business use in residential area because of major issues related to rentals.
Purpose to protect town, owners, neighbors,
Comment, licensing fee, still seems high, Response, for a business it’s not high, it’s one or two nights rent for most of these places, the partial exempt only has that fee the first year, not the second.
Renewal for partially exempt properties is free, for business use is $500
Next step is to go to selectboard to start to hammer out details and then go back to planning board for public hearing, and then to town meeting
Jim motion to accept changes discussed, Mark second, all in favor.
Selectboard, can’t come back to planning board for public hearing until those details are final.
5. Any other business old or new.
6. Terry motion to adjourn 7:41 PM. Jim Second. All in favor.