Concerned about a rise in short-term rentals that has some angered at what they see as an ever-increasing problem, more than a hundred residents signed a petition that was delivered to Town Hall last week.

Short-terms rental services like AirBnB and VRBO cater to short term, usually a week or less, renters looking for an alternative to a hotel or inn. These types of rentals have been an important opportunity for some homeowners who can receive much-needed additional income from the rental of a room, apartment, or home.

However, there are issues arising around these style of rentals that have residents who live near them upset at the loss of their quality of life and potential long-term effects that these types of transactions will have on the Madison housing market and neighborhoods.

The petitioners stressed that they have no issue with property owners who are following current guidelines concerning this type of rental, chiefly that any owner renting short-term have that offering as their main residence and offer some measure of supervision for any guests using their property.

The problem that the petitioners see is an increasing amount of speculators who are buying prime properties along the shoreline for the specific purpose of using the property as an investment device.

First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons said that her office was made aware of the petition and hopes to have the issue in front of the Board of Selectman soon.

“We did receive this petition, and so what we did was file it immediately with the town clerk, and sent it to the Board of Selectman and intend to get this topic on the agenda,” Lyons said.

Lyons said the goal is to set up some form of an ad hoc committee with the cooperation of residents and to gather input of a solution that works for all involved.

“There are a lot of entities that will need to weigh in, [the] Planning & Zoning [Commission] among them. I think an ad hoc committee that is set up to look at short term rentals is needed,” said Lyons.

According to Lyons, there are a number of issues to deal with when considering the problem.

“Obviously people are concerned about the quality of life aspect, but there are economic issues, enforcement issues, and monitoring issues,” Lyons said. “This impacts a lot of folks on both sides and we need to review this and come up with some recommendations.”

The petitioners in their letter said that their chief suggestions are “banning the short-term rental of houses in residential communities in all instances where the owner of the house does not permanently reside on the property; and…only allowing short-term rentals in those instances where the owner permanently lives on the property and is renting out an accessory apartment on the same lot.”

The petitioners claim that, according to a study conducted in 2019, there are hundreds of short-term rentals available in Madison on any given night.

The petitioners stressed that they are not seeking to ban all types of short-term rentals, only those that are in violation of existing ordinances or those described in their letter where the owner is not present on the property.

“Residents of the town of Madison did not purchase their homes expecting to live near houses purchased solely as investments and offering hotel-type accommodations, with a constant flow of unsupervised transient guests,” read the letter in part.

Mahlon Hale, a Madison resident and signer of the petition, said, “These types of rentals detract from the tenor of the neighborhood and can be very annoying to residents. We think the town really needs to take a look at this issue, it really needs to be better regulated. This type of rental is going to change the town and the question is how are we going to address it.”

Some of the other issues raised by the petitioners include parking issues, as many of these rentals are in tightly packed beach areas with extremely limited parking; a constant flow of transient guests and guests of guests unfamiliar with the sometimes unwritten rules of a small tight-knit neighborhood; trespassing of renters onto other properties; and the drain on public safety resources when police must respond to parking and noise complaints.

Madison resident and petition signer Laura Palumbo said the issue is complex, but wanted to stress the signers’ main concerns.

“There are many misconceptions about why short-term rental houses in residential neighborhoods are bad and need to be limited and regulated. Some think it’s because they can be ‘party houses’ bringing large groups, many cars, and noise within a neighborhood. While this is all true, we must remember that a community is built on neighborhoods,” said Palumbo. “Low interest rates, inflation, and the subsequent rise in real estate prices along with the proliferation of services like VRBO and Airbnb has caused the takeover of neighborhoods at the expense of the community. This phenomenon has not only taken a toll on residents but it is causing a dislocation in the real estate market.”

Palumbo urged town officials to consider enacting legislation similar to other area towns such as Chester and Essex that have restricted how short-term rentals are conducted.

Petitioner Linda Marino echoed those insights and said the problem needs attention immediately.“If the town does not take action now and ban the short-term rental of houses in the residential districts (as many other cities and towns in Connecticut and other states have done), these short-term rental platforms, as well as the growing trend of investor-owned houses (where the houses have no permanent residents), will destroy the town’s communities and the sanctity of its neighborhoods and homes,” said Marino.