ADDRESSING THE LONG-TERM IMPACT OF SHORT-TERM RENTALS IN OUR COMMUNITY
Join us in building a sustainable STR industry in Raymond.
Progress Update for 2025
Thank you, citizens of Raymond, for helping us meet our petition goals!
NEW! FEB 2025 Interview with STR Enforcement, LLC
One of the biggest concerns with any ordinance of this type is management control and costs. How much of a burden will it put on the taxpayers, how will the Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) work through the additional responsibilities, etc?
We sat for a zoom meeting with a local provider of STR management software on Feb. 11th, STR Enforcement, LLC, which streamlines the process of enforcement and management of Local STR's within the framework of a local ordinance.
The software is customizable, it taps into the strength of existing mapping solutions, allows the CEO to manage compliance and complaint issues on a per/license or per/property basis. They are local, their services align with our draft Ordinance, and it is fully customizable. The owners handle the accounts, and they work hand-in-hand with the town to establish a system that will work for the principal managers. They are also willing to put together a trial version for the town, a sandbox to test the system prior to commitment.
The company works to various degrees with towns all over southern Maine, including Casco, Naples, Windham, Cape Elizabeth, and Old Orchard. Their pricing is simple, it averages $40 per license per year but would depend on scale of operations and services delivered. That would need to be negotiated. They also offer a $20/license annual flat rate for member communities of The Greater Portland Counsel of Governments (GPCOG) a not for profit, regional agency currently sustained by 25 dues-paying cities and towns in Cumberland County. They help cities and towns do together what they can't do alone. Comprised of committed municipal volunteers, closely aligned partner organizations, and staff drawn from a broad range of professional expertise. They are a Regional Planning Organization, a Metropolitan Planning Organization and an Economic Development District. Whether or not Raymond should join CPCOG is beyond the scope of our discussion, but we mention the opportunity here as a matter of completeness. For comparison, another option is Granitus, a national STR management software company that runs $60/license/annually, but we are not familiar with how their product and services would compare with STR Enforcement, LLC.
The takeaway is this, day-to-day management of ongoing licensing operations would not be as expensive as most people believe. Nor would it be a barrier to passing our draft Ordinance with software and services readily available to streamline the process. Leaving STR license prices up to the town leadership, even at minimum prices, the investment in this type of flexible software management service is extremely affordable and would amount to only a fraction of income.
As an ancillary benefit, they can also complete a survey of existing STRs within a given municipality to help leadership understand what the present scale of STR operations are within its borders. This is not a free service, but it could improve the leadership's understanding of how STR operations are affecting the community, what types of STRs currently operate, and what potential income it is missing out on by not having licensing and control over the industry.
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Since the citizens of Raymond helped us take an important step forward by signing our petition on Nov. 5th, we've been busy having constructive conversations with interested parties around town. We've taken all of the suggestions and requests into consideration and have applied all the best of them to an updated draft ordinance that we believe may improve on our original. You can view the latest draft here. We'd like to thank everyone who contributed to the conversation, and we hope you'll look favorably on the changes we've made. We'll be working on a FAQ that explains the entire ordinance one section at a time. Look for that by March.
View a .pdf version of our Draft Ordinance here.
View a .pdf version of our latest Draft Ordinance here.
View a .pdf version of the Good Neighbor Guidelines here.
Since the presidential election night, we've been receiving lots of input from citizens and STR owners. We have been compiling all of this information and have been discussing how to proceed. In the coming weeks, we will be finalizing our signature collection and hope to submit our petition. We also intend to reach out to the Select Board to chart the best path forward. Meanwhile, there's some new reading below about regulations coming to the unorganized territories.
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New Links to Recent reports and Gov. findings-
Here's a guide to effectively regulating STRs which we just found online. Thankfully, our group accomplished all of their suggestions on our own. But it's a great primer for anyone thinking about these issues.
The Land Use Planning Commission for the unorganized territories announces it has developed new requirements and is working on regulations for STRs.
Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry concerned about subsurface wastewater disposal with respect to short-term rentals.
Short-Term Rentals in the Commission's Service Area : LUPC : Maine DACF
Microsoft Word - 09052024CommissionMemo_STRs.docx (maine.gov)
Municipalities may regulate STRs according to state law:
title30-Asec4364-C.pdf (maine.gov)
There is no question that the state is heading toward regulation at the municipal level. Home Rule and Zoning allow local ordinances to regulate the growing STR industry. Our proposed ordinance deals directly with wastewater disposal overuse issues by tying occupancy rates to septic design, which will help protect the town's environmental resources.
According to the last three census reports, the number of housing units added to stock in Raymond has been growing at a rate almost double that of the number of families moving to town. Combined with conversion of camps and homes to STR use, you can see why we're concerned about the overall impact this trend will have on the community. If it continues the town will become more congested, but fewer people will be "from Raymond" anymore. Neighbors will be displaced by rental businesses. And the overall political and social fabric of the town will change.
We are thankful for your support. And we are accepting support through Venmo to help cover legal expenses.
Support us through Venmo:
Name: RaymondSTRInitiative
Handle: @Raymond-STRInitiative
You may Venmo us using this QR code.
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