Nantucket Together - Traditional Vacation Rentals
Welcome to Nantucket Together. We are a grassroots coalition originally formed in 2021 to oppose the restriction of rental property rights of all Nantucket property owners. We care about Nantucket’s fragile environment, the Nantucket community and we strongly support affordable housing. Most of us have owned our homes for decades and rent to families who return year after year. We have created and published a good neighbor policy and we believe strongly that every home should follow these rules.
Our group hosts and stays at vacation rentals which support the Nantucket economy and contribute visitor-paid tax revenue that funds Nantucket infrastructure and priority town projects. We share a common goal to preserve Nantucket's way of life, traditional vacation rentals and its economy by finding positive ways to support critical island issues.
In 2021, we, along with other groups, were successful in defeating Article 90 by a 2-1 margin at Annual Town Meeting but billionaire-backed interests continue to bankroll challenges and lawsuits against the Zoning Board, the town and our neighbors. Although the town has appointed a Short Term Rental (STR) Workgroup for all sides of the debate to collaborate on creating zoning and/or general bylaws to define and appropriately regulate short-term rentals, another STR damaging citizen's warrant article has been submitted for 2023.
The 2023 citizen's warrant article (Article 60) creates a set of rules that would not only eliminate future commercial-only operated STRs but also destroy the traditional vacation rental model that has existed for over 100 years. Since the vast majority of vacation rental owners must rent their homes out for more time than they can stay in those homes and Article 60 prevents this, such a rental model is no longer viable. This applies to year-round as well as part-time homeowners although those who rent out their primary residence are less affected. Town Counsel has documented several concerns with this proposal and the town has recommended to 'not adopt' the article in deference to the STR Work Group. So our mission this year includes opposing this divisive Article 60 warrant article and working as a voting member of the STR Work Group to ensure any zoning bylaw changes proposed by the group are equitable, reasonable, fact-based and achieve a stated goal without negative unintended consequences for property owners.
Our GoFundMe account is an opportunity for concerned Nantucket taxpayers to contribute to the administrative costs associated with our media campaign to get the word out. We are thankful for any donation you can give, including volunteering your time and skills,
When our work is done, any remaining funds will be donated to Nantucket non-profits, along with a full financial accounting. Note that we are an IRS-approved Section 501(c)(4) designation as a tax-exempt social welfare organization but donations under that designation are not tax deductible.
