Meredith voters approve zoning ordinance changes governing short-term rentals

MEREDITH — Voters in Meredith approved several proposed changes to the municipal zoning ordinance during the town election Tuesday, most by a wide margin. 

Warrant articles 2, 3, 4 and 5, all zoning changes, were approved.

Article 5, arguably the most consequential, made changes to rules governing the use and operation of short-term rental properties. Voters approved it 337-94 at the community center. 

According to the changes, the new ordinance defines distinctions between short-term rentals of owner-occupied properties and those not occupied by the owner, and bifurcates rules regarding the number of days such a property can be rented out.

Previously, all short-term rentals could be let up to 120 days each year. Now, short-term rentals on owner-occupied dwellings can still be rented out 120 days a year, but owner-not-occupied dwellings can only be listed as short-term rentals for 90 days each year. 

Those changes were born of a year-long process which included public input. The town created a committee of residents who looked into the short-term rental market, paying particular attention to data and impacts. 

The town also conducted public surveys and considered those responses.

The language of the ordinance amendment reflected “the Short-Term Rental Committee’s effort to reduce the number of commercial-interest, short-term rental properties in residential zones and the associated potential negative impacts,” Selectboard Vice Chair Jeanie Forrester wrote in The Laconia Daily Sun prior to Tuesday’s election. 

Short-term rentals are technically an accessory use of detached single-family dwellings for less than 30 consecutive days. Accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, cannot be used for short-term rental. 

That amendment also set limits on occupancy in an effort to safeguard infrastructure, including septic systems. New limits set as a result of Tuesday’s election include one car and two people per bedroom, plus an additional two people. 

Article 2 made minor changes to the zoning ordinance, removing the requirement for a small, single-family dwelling — like a camp — to have at least 500 square feet of foundation on the ground. 

That change passed 304 to 150.

Article 3 allows multi-family use by right rather than by special exception in certain areas of town. Apartments are already common throughout the zones included in the list. Now, because of the procedural change approved by voters Tuesday, a property owner could construct an apartment without going before the Zoning Board of Adjustment. They’d still need to go through the planning department’s process for a site plan. 

Voters approved that zoning amendment 308 to 146. 

And article 4, another procedural change, will allow ADUs “by building permit” rather than by special exception. The criteria for ADUs would not change — they’ll still need not to exceed the 1,200-square-foot and two-bedroom limits and follow sewer rules. It also changes the requirement that an ADU be within 100 feet of the home, extending it to 150 feet. 

That amendment passed 297 to 156. 

In other business, voters elected James Mykland as Inter-Lakes School District moderator; Charles G. Hanson, Mark Billings and Duncan Porter-Zuckerman to the school board; Thomas Hughes and Sarah A. Johnson as library trustees; Steve Aiken and Jim Gregoire to the selectboard; and Anita Springer as trustee of the trust funds.