Point Pleasant Beach Council OKs Short-Term Rental Restrictions

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — The Point Pleasant Beach Borough Council unanimously voted to enact stringent new regulations on short-term rentals in the borough during a nearly three-hour meeting Tuesday night packed with both supporters and opponents of the ordinance.

The ordinance, which was passed upon second hearing, will ban the renting of properties for fewer than seven days from May 15 to Sept. 30, or less than one month in the offseason. It also denies certificate of occupancy to any owner with prior revocations or suspension of license, or with any violations of any borough ordinance, starting in January. It also requires rental owners to provide the names and permanent addresses of each proposed tenant, and tightens parking restrictions around each house, among several other requirements.

The debate has been a long-simmering issue across the Jersey Shore, with many towns enacting similar ordinances. In Point Pleasant Beach, many residents voiced their concerns that short-term rentals have become “party houses” that detract from the community and turn the town into an overpriced summer beach resort with a dwindling year-round population. Detractors argue that short-term rentals infuse the community with money, and the new regulations are unreasonable and difficult to enforce.

The hearing featured almost two hours of public comment, alternating between supporters (most often residents who live near rental properties) and opponents (most often rental owners.) Point Pleasant Mayor Paul Kanitra started the hearing by accusing companies like Airbnb of launching a “factless scare tactic” campaign.

“I’m asking you not to step up to the microphone and try to sell this council a factless scare tactic about our local economy…you can’t in good conscience tell us how without short-term rentals, no one will be spending money in the off-season, without acknowledging that if a short-term renter wasn’t in there, a full-time resident would be, who would be eating out, and dining the entire off-season,” Kanitra said to a chorus of groans. “If anything, this ordinance could help our local economy by putting more residents in full-time houses who are currently getting priced out of the market by investors paying far over asking price.”

Kanitra said that without the ordinance, Point Pleasant Beach is in danger of becoming a resort that is “a town in name only.”

About half the speakers agreed with this assessment during a debate that often centered on the borough’s identity. “I don’t want to see this as some sort of bed and breakfast community,” said Dennis Driber, a Point Pleasant resident who said his father bought the house he grew up in 1939. “That’s not what this town is, it’s not what it’s always been, and it shouldn’t move in that direction…we don’t want to be a Seaside. Do you know how much money they’ve spent in Seaside trying to reverse what they’ve done over the years?”

Another speaker, a Point Pleasant Beach resident who owns three rental properties in town, said the town was always a resort. “We have huge events down here,” said Eric Seeburg. “I live on a street called ‘RR’ - resort residential. I bought in a resort residential town. So for us to have people coming down here, that’s what I want, because it’s a resort town. You can’t change what Point Pleasant has always been. What you want to make it is a whole different town.”

Related:

Short-Term Rentals To Be Looked At By Point Beach Council

Short-Term Rental Ban In Point Boro Facing First Summer

Note: This article has been updated to correct the town to Point Pleasant Beach in the headline and to remove a photo of the Point Pleasant Borough water tower. Patch regrets the errors.