Great Barrington Boards Unanimously Refer Short-Term Rental Bylaw to Planning Board

GREAT BARRINGTON — December 6, 2021 — Great Barrington's joint Planning Board and Select Board voted unanimously to refer a draft short-term rental bylaw to the Planning Board for development ahead of a potential town meeting vote. The December 6 meeting drew 25 public attendees and centered on a packet assembled by town planner Chris Remboldt showing roughly 200 state-registered short-term rentals in a town of approximately 3,600 housing units, a zero percent rental vacancy rate, and a median home sale price of $520,000 over the prior year. Planning Board member Lee, who drafted the proposed bylaw, argued the vacancy rate demands immediate action: "The fact that we have a zero percent rental vacancy rate right there points to my belief that there is something that we need to do immediately to solve the housing crisis." The boards settled on four purposes to guide the Planning Board's drafting — keeping primary residential use, preventing long-term-to-short-term conversion, reducing neighborhood nuisance impacts, and addressing health and safety — while a separate three percent community impact fee allowed under a 2019 state law remains on the Select Board's agenda as a parallel track.