City Council - Ordinance Committee
Regular MeetingEasthampton, MA · March 25, 2025
Minutes
3/25 5:05 Ordinance Committee Meeting
Saem Derby, Koni Denham, Alison Manuel, Rocky Mariany, Liz Plouffe, Erin, Juli, Carl, Katrina, Lindey,
John, Mindy
I. Approval of minutes from 1/25 and 3/11
II. Public speak: no speak
III. Short Term Rental
a. Koni met with hosts, fire chief, other stakeholders in city
b. Next, Koni will be meeting will include police and fire chief
c. Papers on windows:
i. Questions
ii. Concerns
iii. What’s working
d. General discussion on current ordinance
e. Alison: here’s what needs more discussion
i. Number of days or stays that are permitted
ii. Should it matter whether it’s on site?
iii. Should we allow people to have more than one rental at a time? What if the
two buildings are on the same property?
iv. Should we include owner occupied? It’s not taking a residence off of the
inventory. Take that out but everything else applies.
v. How will number of units allowed handled?
1. Owner occupier of one property with two short term rentals on
property
2. ADU on my property and a place in my house?
3. Will not include number of bedrooms
4. No restriction on non-short term rentals
5. 3 rooms, 6 people, need to have different requirements in the house for
water safety and code requirements
vi. Salem: Maybe we look at properties whereas it doesn’t matter how many ADUs
are on the one property
1. May be slippery slope if we start limiting the number of short-term
rentals a person can have
vii. Resident: I am looking to buy a home in Easthampton. ADUs aren’t in conflict
with the housing market, but buying a house to rent to another group is.
viii. Resident: If I had my unit and it’s already been an investment, I would be very
upset if I suddenly wasn’t allowed to keep it on the market
ix. Resident: Concern about limit of number because we have limited guests. 3
guests at one night a guest = only 3 nights in a month? That would be
devastating
x. Resident: work backwards: what are the evils we are trying to protect against?
1. Investors using this as an opportunity for investment when they aren’t
here, public nuisance, public safety
2. What are the guard rails we can put in place?
a. If your unit is run by a company and not you, or you’re an
investor, etc. you have a severe limit to rent.
3. How can we do this without limiting for people who need this to
survive?
a. Doesn’t address any evil, just a blunt instrument
4. What are the drivers of these issues?
xi. Resident: this part about limitations and trying to make rules/cap around them,
write down that the people who have been doing it the longest and have
invested in it the longest should get first dibs.
1. There are no hotels
2. Grandparents of people who live in Easthampton
3. Part of the culture of our city, support local tourism, sustainability, etc.
brought up last time
xii. Koni: fire chief gave list of things he wanted to include
1. Annual inspections by fire dept with associate fees and services
2. At least one five pound multi-level extinguisher on every level
3. Fully stocked first-aide kit
4. Smoke/carbon detectors that comply
5. Proper house numbering
6. Signage laminated and near all egrets to discuss evacuation routes in
the house
7. In event of emergency vs. non-emergency
8. Recommend: residential lock-boxes
9. Outdoor burning (campfires, cooking fires, etc)
10. Multi-unit apartment buildings: Only one as a short-term unit
11. If you have six or more people, you have to have a sprinkler system by
code
xiii. John: My adu is inspected by a fire inspector. It had six beds in it when he
came. Fire chief is saying that you need to have a sprinkler system. They
adopted it in 2005 in building code but not in ordinances. So, I am the
operations manager of the bombyx center and we are having someone there to
talk about water pressure and codes. Will also get a quote to see what they
cost.
xiv. Jon: It’s not the building code, it’s the MA general law that specifies about
sprinklers.
xv. Koni: let’s come back to the questions in front of us re: number of stays, etc.
xvi. Salem: simpler is better. Can use a third party for the rental, and the x separate
stays per month can also be struck.
xvii. Koni: If I don’t limit it, if I come in and buy 7 units and then have people manage
them
xviii. Salem: Maybe there is another way to address the non-owner occupied rentals
xix. Karl: If it’s owner-occupied, why does it have to be a limit? Issue if there’s no
control on non-owner occupied short-term rentals.
xx. John: I made a corporation to create my ADU. I had to deed my property over
and I started an LLC. I own all of the properties, but LLC is okay.
1. Equity: it could be these golden licenses and the first fifty are the ones
to have the right
2. Supply/demand will dictate if it’s enough
3. I have two homes, one I live in with a long-term rental and short-term
rental below
xxi. Jon: you could say if you don’t have residence in Easthampton, you cannot
purchase a property to have a rental; if you live in your house and you Air bnb it,
and you live in Easthampton, but you put a big kneecap on how many
nights/year. Concerned that total cap is needless and might generate inequity
and a situation where the fifty people never improve their quality of the rental.
Unintended consequences of limit.
xxii. Laura: no limiting of stays
xxiii. Tammy: I have no idea what the positives for capping. Came from trying to
preserve long-term housing market
1. For people from outside can protect it
2. Daughter lives in the house where the house would be sitting empty the
whole time when it’s not being used for family, we rent it out. It’s not a
nuisance to the city.
xxiv. Mindy: Will we hear more from people in opposition to short-term rentals?
1. One house has 50 calls into the fire department- what about saying only
when people are misbehaved?
xxv. Koni: we know that most people are fine. This usually doesn’t come to public
review so we have the opportunity to do that here.
xxvi. Salem: Licensing board- the one that gives out liquor licenses. You can give
them licenses, you just can’t take away licenses.
xxvii. Who would enforce compliance?
1. Building inspector: paperwork
2. Noise enforcer: police
3. Licensing board
xxviii. Jon: Is licensing board an Easthampton thing? Yes. Would this be as a by right
or a by licensing part of this yet.
xxix. Alison: We haven’t decided on that yet. Zoning could potentially create a
hearing process if we opted to put that forward. Will need to have zoning
appeals to
1. LLC vs owner vs. corporation etc.
2. If we do see concerns about out-of-staters transitioning from apartment
buildings to several short-term rentals, tricky situation
xxx. Salem: If it’s a multi-unit building, only one unit can be an Air BNB
1. Alison: need language on simultaneous renting
xxxi. Karl: I learn about how black rock was using innocuous llc names to buy up
properties. Really slippery slope. Licensing could fix this to make sure we know
it’s people we want running these things in our community and renewing
licenses yearly is one way to do that.
xxxii. Koni: we are all interested and committed to making sure people can stay in
their homes. We created a situation where things have gotten out of hand.
xxxiii. Tammy: Need another conversation about parking requirements
xxxiv. Koni: We talked about fire code, no limit on number of stays. Fire chief’s
recommendations are for a land-line, that’s pretty uncommon at this point.
Recommended not required.
xxxv. Off-street parking
1. Can be waived
xxxvi. Owner occupied versus owner next-door
xxxvii. Can we limit the number of non-owner occupied rentals? Only one non-owner
occupied?
xxxviii. Karl: Concerned about not enough housing, limit the number of investment
properties
xxxix. John: Governer started looking for other ways to try to create more housing
xl. Katrina: can we grandfather in homes already owned by the person? Is that a
slippery slope? Is there a way to keep that in place since we are limiting things
in the future instead of today?
xli. John: we were one of the first cities to create zba stuff and housing
xlii. Jon: Tendency to individualize systemic problems, and the short term rental
thing is not a big thing in all of this.
1. Numbers are not there to support investment properties; it’s much
easier to long term rent
2. The desire to protect: there’s a capitalist break on this project in
Easthampton.
xliii. Koni: suggestions have been made, we will go back and make some edits to this
draft. Will meet again with police and fire chief next meeting.
xliv. Motion to adjourn made by salem, seconded by smith
Agenda
PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE
OFFICE OF THE EASTHAMPTON CITY CLERK
AGENDA UPDATED
3/20/2025 By Office of the City Clerk at 10:52 am, Mar 12, 2025
BOARD/COMMITTEE: City Council Ordinance Committee
DATE: March 25, 2025 TIME: 5 p.m.
BUILDING & ROOM: 50 Payson Ave., Conf. Rm. 1, 1stflr. and
Remote by Google Meet
Clerk or board member: Koni Denham, Chair
City Council Ordinance Committee
Tuesday, March 25 · 5:00 – 7:00pm
Time zone: America/New York
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/jry-gnxy-uzd
Or dial: (US) +1 949-424-5149 PIN: 809 669 025#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/jry-gnxy-uzd?pin=3076509075067
LIST OF TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of minutes from past meetings.
3. Public Speak Time
4. New Business:
5. Continuing Business:
-Request to review zoning ordinance amendments re: short term rentals
6. Next Meeting: TBD
Chapter 4
Article VI SHORT-TERM RENTAL OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES
4-50.1 Purpose and Intent.
Pursuant to the authority of G.L. c.64G, the City establishes these regulations to
balance private, neighborhood, and civic interests. These regulations are intended to:
1. Enable residents to earn income from their properties to better afford to live in
Easthampton, maintain their properties, and contribute to the community.
2. Minimize public safety and health risks.
3. Support local tourism in a sustainable manner.
4. Promote Easthampton as a welcoming community.
5. Deter commercial interests from buying housing to use primarily as short-term
rental businesses.
4-50.2 Definitions.
For this Chapter, the following terms shall have the definitions indicated:
Owner. Any person who alone, or severally with others, has legal or equitable title or
beneficial interest in any dwelling unit; a mortgagee in possession; or agent, trustee or
person appointed by the courts. An Owner can be a single person, a marital unit, a
group of people, LLC or a Trust. The Owner may also be referred to as the Operator.
Short-Term Rental. The rental of a whole or a portion of a primary or accessory
dwelling unit, in exchange for payment, as overnight accommodations for not more than
28 consecutive calendar days, excluding a Bed & Breakfast, Hotel, Motel, or Lodging
House as defined and permitted under the Zoning Ordinance.
4-50.3 Registration Required.
a. No dwelling unit or part thereof may be offered as a short-term rental within the
City of Easthampton unless it is registered annually with the City through an
application filed with the Licensing Board and in accordance with this Chapter,
and registered with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of
Revenue in accordance with applicable laws..
b. At a minimum, the registration process shall require: the address of the unit to be
registered; the Owner’s name or the names of all organization members if owned
by a legal entity, and verifiable documentation of the owners or members of that
legal entity; contact information for a local person responsible for the operation of
the short-term rental; a statement of whether the Owner will live in a dwelling unit
on the same premises as the short-term rental; the number of bedrooms to be
rented; and any other information necessary to determine compliance with
applicable state and local rules and regulations.
c. Registration of a short-term rental shall not be transferable to a different Owner.
New Owners of existing short-term rentals will be required to complete a new
registration. In the case of LLC’s and Trusts, changes in membership shall
require notification to the License Commission and Building Department within 30
days of the change.
4-50.4 Standards and Limitations.
a. The maximum number of short-term rentals permitted in the City shall be capped
at 50 total dwelling units.
b. An Owner may only register to operate one dwelling unit as a short-term rental in
the City of Easthampton. If an Owner has beneficial interest in more than one
property in the City, they must choose only one property and one dwelling-unit
thereon to operate as a short-term rental. An Owner may use a third party to
manage their short-term rental, but the registration must be in the Owner’s name.
c. The number of individual bedrooms made available for short-term rentals within a
dwelling unit shall not be greater than the number of lawful bedrooms in the
dwelling unit. The registered short-term rental may be rented for an unlimited
number of days per year, provided that the Owner is residing in one of the
dwelling units on premises at the time of the rental. In cases where the Owner is
not residing on premises at the time of the rental, no unit or portion thereof may
be rented for more than x separate stays per month . Each rental transaction or
turnover of guests shall constitute a separate stay.
d. Short-term rentals may only be rented to one party or group at a time; individual
rooms may not be rented to separate, unrelated parties or groups at the same
time.
e. Short-term rentals are prohibited in dwelling units owned by a corporation. Short-
term rentals are permitted in dwelling units owned by an LLC or Trust only when
every shareholder, partner, or member of the legal entity is a natural person, as
established by documentation provided by the applicant at the time of
registration.
f. Short-term rentals are prohibited in dwelling units designated as affordable or
otherwise income-restricted, which are subject to affordability covenants or are
otherwise subject to housing or rental assistance under local, state, or federal
programs or law.
g. An Owner shall not register or offer a rental unit subject to a long term lease as a
short-term rental, nor shall a tenant offer their rental unit as a short-term rental.
4-50.5 Requirements for Short-Term Rental Operations.
a. An Owner shall post in any short-term rental unit the following information in a
conspicuous place:
i. The Owner’s certificate of registration with the City;
ii. The street address of the short-term rental;
iii. Contact information for the Operator and whom to call in an emergency;
iv. Instructions for recycling and waste disposal;
v. Notice that dogs must be leashed when outdoors if not in a securely
fenced enclosure;
vi. Notice that no excessive noise shall occur after 8:00 PM or earlier than
8:00 AM.
b. All buildings used in whole or part for short-term rental use shall comply with all
applicable Massachusetts Building Code and Massachusetts Comprehensive
Fire Safety Code requirements for transient lodging facilities.
c. A short-term rental is not allowed on any property with outstanding violations of
Building, Fire, Health codes, and/or City Ordinances.
d. Events that include amplified music or tents which would customarily require a
license or permit are prohibited from occurring at the same time as any short-
term rental period.
e. There shall be a minimum of one off-street parking space for the short-term
rental and one additional off-street parking space per dwelling unit on the
property. The Licensing Board may waive this requirement if it finds that there
are mitigating circumstances, including but not limited to the availability of on-
street parking or accessibility to public transit.
f. Signs on the property advertising the short-term rental are prohibited.
4-50.6 Inspection.
a. Short-Term Rentals may be subject to inspection by the Easthampton Health
Department, Fire Department, and the Building Commissioner. Short-term rental
Owners are required to provide access for the purpose of conducting safety
inspections when necessary. Failure to provide access to an inspector upon
request and after proper notice will invalidate the license to operate a short-term
rental until an inspection by the appropriate authority has been conducted, and
all violations have been addressed to the satisfaction of the Department and the
City. Failure to comply with orders to correct deficiencies may result in fines,
revocation or refusal to allow license renewal.
b. Owners can appeal a written violation within 21 days of notice in accordance with
M.G.L. Ch. 40 § 21D.
c. In the event that there are three or more violations within a twelve-month period,
short-term rental registrations may be revoked and permanently denied by a vote
of the Licensing Board.
4-50.7 Compliance.
Owners shall retain and make available to the City within 5 business days, upon written
request, records to demonstrate compliance with these regulations, including but not
limited to: records demonstrating the number of months that the Owner has resided or
will reside on the same premises of the short-term rental, if applicable; records
demonstrating all past, current and upcoming bookings including the platform used for
the booking and the dates of stays; and records demonstrating the number of days per
year that the residential unit is offered as a short-term rental. The Owner shall retain
such records for as long as they operate the short-term rental, or three years, whichever
is less. The City reserves the right to monitor compliance through available third-party
services, publicly available information, or by any other lawful means.
4-50.8 Penalties.
If any Owner violates any provision of this Ordinance, the Owner may be subject to a
civil penalty in accordance with M.G.L. Ch. 40 § 21D, with the following:
$100 1st Offense
$200 2nd Offense
$300 3rd Offense and each subsequent offense
Each day that a violation exists constitutes a separate offense.
4-50.9 Severability.
If any provision in this section shall be held to be invalid by a court of competent
jurisdiction, then such provision shall be considered separately and apart from the
remaining provisions, which shall remain in full force and effect.
4-50.10 Effective Date.
The provisions of this Ordinance “Short-Term Rental of Residential Properties” shall
take effect on May 1, 2025.
Get email alerts for Easthampton
A daily email when new agendas and minutes are posted.