Toms River Council OKs Limits On Short-Term Rentals, Says Ordinance Needs Adjustments

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Saying they needed to get something in place before the start of the tourism season, the Toms River Township Council approved an ordinance Tuesday night to place restrictions on short-term rentals in the township.

The vote was not unanimous; Councilman Mo Hill voted no. But council members said the ordinance is a starting point, and that it needs amendments, including changes to the length of permitted stays and a change to the timeframe that short-term rentals are allowed.

The growth of sites like Airbnb, FlipKey and HomeToGo, which allow users to advertise short-term rentals of their homes, and used primarily by vacationers, have caused a stir across the country. In Toms River, the short-term rentals have led to complaints in some areas of town about properties turning into rowdy situations that have infringed on neighbors.

But for others, the ability to rent out their homes has provided critical income to make ends meet.

Jeremy Grunin, speaking on behalf of the Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce — which at the last council meeting asked the council to postpone action because it felt the ordinance, as written, is harmful to business — expressed frustration that emails offering to sit down with council members or the Land Use Committee went unanswered.

Hill told Grunin the Land Use Committee did read the emails, in which the chamber suggested they look at regulations in Malibu and South Lake Tahoe, Calif., as well as proposed regulations in Portland, Maine, for ways to adjust them that would make them more business-friendly while protecting residents. But Hill said the committee did not feel they were relevant to Toms River's situation because they were from cities outside New Jersey.

"The lack of response shows a level of disrespect for the business community," Grunin said.

"We wanted to move forward with the season coming up," Hill said.

"So you pushed it through like Obamacare, pass it and we'll fix it later?" Grunin said, a notion Hill rejected.

Resident Martha Boden echoed that criticism.

"You people had five months and this is what you come up with?" she said. Boden said concerns about lumping the barrier island, which is far more sensitive to the ebb and flow of tourism, were ignored.

"I register and have an inspection every year," she said. "To approve this without consideration for dividing barrier island from mainland ... I'm disappointed this is what you came up with."

Not everyone was unhappy with the approval. A resident of the Silverton section, where some of the most significant complaints arose, thanked the council for taking action, as did Karen Colyer, who lives full-time on the barrier island.

"With the proliferation of these sites like Airbnb, this problem is only going to get worse," she said. She was critical of statements that implied the council might extend the timeframe on the rentals. "Five months is enough to generate rental income," she said, adding that she understands the desire during the summer months. But in the offseason, she said, it's too much. "I'd like to know who my neighbors are seven months of the year."

The ordinance prohibits the short-term rentals of less than 30 days on the mainland and limits the Airbnb-style rentals on the barrier island to April 15 to Sept. 15 with a minimum three-day stay. It limits the rentals to a single room; multiple rooms or multiple tenants for the short stays are not permitted under the ordinance. It also must be owner-occupied year-round, under the ordinance, which lists inspections and other restrictions.

Airbnb rentals have become a point of contention in other areas. Portland, Maine, which has a population of 66,000, approved its regulations on Monday night, after a year of hashing them out, according to a report in the Portland Press Herald. Portland's ordinance for short-term rentals includes not only registration but charges fees to register.

In Florida, there is a controversy over attempts by state legislators to pass a state law that would effectively roll back local ordinances that place restrictions on the house-swapping rentals. The Daytona Beach News Journal reported the effort aims to change a 2014 law that was a compromise between municipalities seeking to check out-of-control rentals and the vacation rentals industry.

The Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce, in a letter released to the Patch, said efforts in other communities to balance the quality-of-life needs of residents and business have resulted in a number of ideas that the township could apply to manage the situation. In Malibu, there's a hotline for residents to call with concerns or complaints about problem rentals. In South Lake Tahoe, vacation rentals are subject to differing rules dependon on the zone they're in, with residential-zone properties required not only to register but to notify neighbors, the chamber said.

The Toms River ordinance will take effect 20 days after publication, meaning it will become effective shortly before the April 15 date.

A room in a bed-and-breakfast inn. Short-term rentals will be limited to one room and a minimum three-day stay under Toms River's new ordinance. Photo by Dana Moos, via Flickr, under Creative Commons license