PITTSFIELD, Mass.— After some final revisions, an ordinance that allows and regulates short-term rentals will go before the City Council. 

Last week, the Ordinances and Rules subcommittee gave its approval to the document. In late June, councilors had to make several decisions, including designating a granting authority and establishing a yearly cap on the number of days an STR can be rented. 

"I looked at everything that the two of you worked on in the last month, and you did apply everything that the committee thought of and came up with," subcommittee member Rhonda Serre of Ward 7 said to City Planner Kevin Rayner and City Solicitor Devon Grierson. 

"I thought it was very thorough, and I appreciate the work you're putting into this very necessary ordinance." 

The proposed ordinance defines a short-term rental as "a rental property offering a consecutive stay of no more than thirty (30) days, but not at a bed-and-breakfast, hotel, motel and lodging house, or time share." 

It subjects all short-term rental properties to an administrative site plan review by the Department of Community Development and, if necessary, a site plan approval from the Community Development Board. STRs must be registered with the city clerk and can only be rented for 150 days out of the year. 

Operators are required to have a local contact in Berkshire County that can make decisions about he property. 

"We have developed language that is essentially what we came up with last month in our discussion," Rayner said. 

"We followed along the lines of the discussion pretty closely and just basically developed language that allowed an additional short term rental by special permit, along with the criteria that we came up with, such as, no second short term rental within the half mile radius unless its in the same parcel, and some criteria to help the community development board make a decision if there is a special permit application." 

Subcommittee member Peter White, council president, asked if there would be an easy-to-follow checklist for operators when they apply for a STR. Rayner explained that the special permit it "pretty loose" and that the applications go through a comprehensive review by his office to ensure they are complete. 

"We basically go through each point of what the board will grade the application on, and we give our comments and feedback on every single criterion, and we provide that to the applicant, as well as the board, ahead of the meeting," he said. 

"And if the applicant has any questions, they are free to ask us and a lot of the time that can help them to alter their application ahead of the meeting, and iron out any kinks in the application before it gets to the board so I wouldn't say that there's necessarily like an actual checklist, but we work very well with the applicant to ensure that they understand what's required and any issues that they might come across in their application process." 

Pittsfield Short-Term Rental Ordinance by Brittany Polito

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