A subcommittee of Rindge’s Planning Board is considering ways to regulate short-term rentals like Airbnb or Verbo in the city after neighbors complained about noise and overcrowded parking.

During a subcommittee meeting on Tuesday, Planning Committee Chair Roberta Oeser said the full committee has discussed issues related to short-term rentals at length and is “very aware” of some of the problems associated with them, including “parking, noise and basically invading your neighborhoods.”

Several neighbors from Jowders Cove Road, a street adjacent to Contoocook Lake, spoke at the meeting and expressed concern about the increasing number of short-term rentals in their neighborhood. Candy Phillips, resident of Jowders Cove Road, said at least four of about 29 homes were affected, saying renters are “tearing up the street” and “you don’t know who’s on your street.”

Local resident Russ Phillips said in one of those cases, one of the rental properties was used for a college graduation party; the street was crowded with cars and 27 people were using the home.

Oeser said the city’s current zoning code allows short-term rentals as an accessory use of resident property, but they are not well regulated. The purpose of the subcommittee is to determine which path the city wants to take with regulation and draft possible language. Oeser said since short-term rentals have been allowed in the city for more than 10 years, a complete ban would be problematic because there are likely many properties that would be grandfathered in. She said the best way to address the problem is to regulate them.

Oeser said there are several ways to establish regulations, including updating the zoning ordinance, which would require a majority vote of the city, or a regulatory process through either the Planning Board or the Urban Development Board.

The committee reviewed some language used in other cities to control short-term rentals, particularly one passed by Fitzwilliam in March. While there were some points they disagreed with, the committee felt Fitzwilliam’s ordinance was a good starting point for drafting something similar for Rindge.

Fitzwilliam’s ordinance defines short-term rentals as renting a unit for less than 30 days, excluding hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfast accommodations or accessory dwelling units. New provisions include classifying short-term rentals as a commercial use, which requires a conditional use permit from the Planning Board; occupancy is limited to no more than the number of bedrooms multiplied by two, and they are not allowed on lots that already have an accessory dwelling unit on them; off-street parking is required; the lot must have adequate water and sewer, and a joint inspection by the fire chief and health officer is required before approval, among other requirements.

The board agreed to most of these potential conditions, although prohibiting short-term rentals of the accessory dwelling unit or primary residence of a property with an ADU was a sticking point. While the board agreed that ADUs were allowed specifically to solve housing problems, it acknowledged that there could be cases where rentals of the primary residence could be allowed, such as if the property is vacant for an extended period of time.

Oeser also proposed requiring annual inspections and requiring property owners to comply with lodging and meal taxes.

Planning Board Vice Chairman Joel Aho said he had “no interest in being the tax collector” and that he was concerned with addressing issues that affected neighbors. He said, “The ordinance should be geared toward addressing specific issues.”

The committee agreed in principle to proceed with drafting the text based on Fitzwilliam, but did not take an official vote on Tuesday.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, extension 244, or [email protected]. She is on X @AshleySaariMLT.