BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor City Council met Monday, Sept. 18 to discuss how the city can regulate Airbnb and short-term rental properties.
Considering the city and state's stressed housing market, community and economic development director Anne Krieg said the city is working to create a happy medium.
"We’re finding that the user isn’t the traditional tourist," Krieg said. "It’s often people who are here to work. So, we want to accommodate the use. We love to show off our neighborhoods—but we don’t want to have it overtake neighborhoods and displace a lot of the housing."
Krieg said, often, construction workers and people who work in the medical field use short-term rentals and Airbnb properties that are already on the market and are accepting bookings.
Business owner Ashley Cunningham says more short-term rentals means more tourists coming to town to spend money.
"I think it helps our business," Cunningham said. "I used to work in a hotel, and I have a lot of friends who work in hotels. And hotels are expensive."
If the current proposal is approved, the city will only issue 153 Airbnb and short-term rental permits combined per year.
Krieg said the Airbnb and short-term rentals that receive permits and approval to continue business will roughly account for one percent of the city’s housing market.
Proposed regulations also state that a host can only hold five permits at a time. Krieg said the cap was put in place to keep investors from buying up multiple living spaces.
There are also regulations in place for apartment buildings that want to offer short-term rentals.
"We put a cap, actually, also on apartment buildings," Krieg said. "So, if somebody owns an apartment building, they can’t rent more than 50 percent of the units for short-term rental."
The property cap and the permit requirement would only apply to short-term rentals and Airbnb properties that are considered "un-hosted." An un-hosted short-term rental would be defined as a rental where the host is not on-site during the guest's stay.
According to the current proposal, Airbnb and short-term rental properties must pass inspection before the permit is approved.
Airbnb host Lance Blackstone said he agrees that short-term rental properties should be regulated, and he said he's impressed with the proposed regulations.
Blackstone owns an Airbnb property in downtown. He said he purchased the property for about $325,000, but when he started to remodel the space, he and his workers uncovered several issues with the property's foundation.
Blackstone said he spent more than $200,000 on remodeling the apartment to make it livable and compliant with code enforcement guidelines.
The current proposed guidelines create opportunities for the city to renovate run-down living spaces and buildings, Blackstone said.
"Frankly, with a lot of these older buildings, there's really no other use for second, third, and fourth floors," Krieg said.
The city council will vote on the proposed ordinance in October.
To read the full proposed ordinance, click here.