In order to get a better handle on the booming practice of short-term rental properties (such as those seen on popular sites like AirBnB and Vrbo), the Warren Town Council charged Town Manager Kate Michaud and Town Solicitor Tony DeSisto with crafting a formal policy on short-term rentals during their August meeting, to be unveiled possibly as soon as the September meeting of the council next week.

“This came up in the context of affordable housing, and the fact that we are seeing people come into town and purchase properties for the sole purpose of creating short-term rentals,” explained Town Manager Kate Michaud, noting the example of a property that was recently purchased for the sole purpose of being converted into a short-term rental that is capable of pulling in upwards of $10,000 a month.

“And that is putting great stress on the rental market,” Michaud continued.

Included within the forthcoming policy is to be the creation of a local database that would catalogue each property in town being used for short-term rental purposes. Each owner of a property being utilized for short-term rentals would need to apply in order to be registered within the database and be allowed to operate within town.

Although the exact language has not yet been determined, the policy is also to include a restriction regarding whether the owner of the short-term rental property must be a Warren resident or at least live within a certain geographic range close to Warren. Likewise, the policy may require there to be a “registered agent” for the property who is responsible for the property at all times, should any issues arise (such as neighbor complaints or police response).

A third element of the forthcoming policy regards parking, and whether or not short-term rental properties must provide a parking plan to show how many cars can feasibly be parked on-site or off-site, so as to not overburden downtown areas that are already well known for parking woes.

“If they have one space and they want to rent out to one family, that’s fine,” said Council Vice President Steve Calenda. “If they have zero spaces, then they have to provide some type of a plan. Because not everybody will come in via Uber or a Lyft. And that would be part of the plan and part of the registration and part of their compliance.”

Council members discussed back and forth whether or not short-term rentals should only be operated by local residents, and not merely designated to a registered agent.

“If you want to get into the business of running a hotel, then build a hotel,” said Council President John Hanley. “My feeling would be that I insist you are the owner occupant, otherwise you do not get a registration for a short-term rental. That’s how I feel about it, and that comes from experience and just knowing how bad this can go. Because you get one person in there that at 3 o’ clock in the morning starts disturbing the whole neighborhood, by the time the police respond and by the time you get ahold of this registered agent, they’re already packed up and on their way out because they were only there for one night.”

Calenda thought differently, favoring the ability to revoke registrations similar to a license if infractions occur.

“I think we’re projecting and forecasting something bad happening before it’s happened,” he said. “I think we should allow them, whether they want to be owner-occupied or in the geographic area, that’s fine. Or you can have someone to be your representative, that’s fine too. But if you fail to be compliant, then we revoke your license. I just think being restrictive right off the rip, saying you either have to be owner-occupied or be within five or 10 miles, I’m struggling with that one.”

For context, Portsmouth, Middletown and Westerly all require registered agents for non-owner occupied short-term rental properties. Newport has the most restrictive policy, which does not allow non-owner occupied short-term rentals in their residential districts — a policy that is now in the midst of an appeals process.

As for what Warren ultimately decides, the consensus among the Council was that getting something on the books now was wise, considering the growing popularity of short-term rentals in communities throughout the region.

“I think we need to start somewhere, and I think we will learn as we move forward through it,” said Keri Cronin. “I think starting with the opportunity for people who own property in the Town of Warren to have a short-term rental in an accessory dwelling, in an extra apartment, or in a multi-family. And they either live in that building, or they live in the Town of Warren. I think that’s a good place to start. We have no idea whether people are going to abuse it and be nightmares on Earth or whether people are going to be responsible and respectful.

“We hope they will, but the process of moving forward will reveal who the good guys and the not so good guys are. But we can’t ponder into the future so many scenarios that may never happen. Let’s start some place.”