There has been much commentary online and elsewhere about the various ordinance amendments voters are being asked to approve this year. Much has been said about the speed at which these amendments were written, the process taken and the potential impacts. Sadly, much of what has been said does not tell the whole story on multiple fronts. I write this mostly as a lifelong citizen of Camden, but also as member of the planning board. I do not write on behalf of any other board members.

First and foremost, the Planning Board has spent the better part of three years researching and discussing the various issues about Short Term Rentals (STR’s) and other community impacts. We looked at what other communities in Maine and around the country have done, and what would be best for our town. We looked at the importance of vacationing visitors and the long history of summer rentals and have no desire to restrict that important piece of Camden’s economy.

When we talk about ‘affordable housing’ it is important to understand what we mean and what levels of access are available. In these discussions we often talk about ‘available housing’ with reference to the short term market.

Camden may well be an affluent community, but it should be possible for middle-class families to find a home here, sadly more and more homes are being bought as investments by people who hope to tap into the lucrative vacation market instead of keeping these homes available to families who live and work here. In days past summer homes were often rented to locals in the off season, but sadly this arrangement also is no longer made available. Homes enter the market and are immediately snapped up before families have a chance to even make an offer.

So, it is important to look at the impact STRs have on available housing, the year round community and what standards we should have in place for rental properties which are being operated as businesses.

The original model for STRs (with sites like VRBO and AirBnB) was for people to rent a room, or their entire home for short periods, this a wonderful way for folks to offset the costs of home ownership. Unfortunately, more and more we are seeing people and companies purchasing entire homes and pulling them out of the long term rental market, hoping to cash in on the bigger dollars in STR’s. And in a capitalist world, that is a property owner’s right.

But when you operate a business, you have to follow rules for that type of business. Nothing in these proposed amendments takes away rights or prevents anyone from doing what they want with their property, but they would be required to operate their business as a business. We should know how many houses in town are operated as businesses and they should be treated as such.

Our inns and hotels are required to follow certain rules and policies to protect the safety of their guests and respect their neighbors, houses which are in the commercial vacation rental market should be held to the same standard. I for one think it’s important that vacation rentals aren’t putting 15 people in a three-bedroom house, that renters know where to park and what to do with their trash, and that neighbors have a means of communication with the property owner if renters are problematic. 

Community means more than just some people living near each other, it means people in the same town caring about each other, looking out for each other, and occasionally taking steps to be responsible citizens and neighbors, even when this means following steps to be part of a system of rules.

In the end, we should really ask ourselves where the priority should lie. Is it more important to see homes as commercial rental properties, or do we want to focus on homes for people who live and work in Camden?

And when you look at the entire set of warrant items, I would ask you also to consider that all of the items you will vote on have been presented by staff and volunteers who have spent months doing research and finding the best solutions for our town, this is what we do to function as a community, from the harbor to the Snow Bowl, our schools and fire department. We make our decisions for the whole town.

Chrisso Rheault lives in Camden