Kennebunk residents last week overwhelmingly gave a green light to new rules for some short-term rentals. But unlike other communities, the beachfront York County town is asking only for voluntary compliance.

Starting in January, Kennebunk property owners who rent out their homes for 15 days or less at a time can pay $250 annually to receive a “Good Neighbor” designation after applying for a license and passing a fire safety inspection.

“It’s kind of a soft approach,” Town Clerk Merton Brown said. “It doesn’t mean in the future that there won’t be restrictions added to the ordinance, like some of the towns around us that have caps or mandatory registration.”

A town subcommittee started looking at short-term rentals and developing the ordinance last year, in part so town officials could get a better sense of how many there were in the community. The town had been hearing estimates that there are 500 to 900 short-term rentals, but it is hard to quantify based on online listings because some are listed on multiple platforms, said Brown, who was on the subcommittee.

After looking at how other communities have handled the issue, the group decided to develop the “Good Neighbor” approach and seek voluntary compliance, he said.

Whether or not to regulate short-term rentals has been a source of contention in other Maine communities in recent years as visitors turn to online platforms like Airbnb or VRBO to book lodging.

Other Maine vacation hotspots like Kennebunkport and Bar Harbor cap the number of short-term rental licenses. Portland requires rentals to be registered, caps the overall number and restricts how many units can be in each building. Last fall, an Old Orchard Beach town councilor proposed putting a moratorium on rental licenses so the town could consider new rules but withdrew the plan after it ignited a fierce debate.

In May, York residents rejected a proposed short-term rental ordinance that would have required owners to register with the town, undergo an inspection by the fire department and have a representative available to quickly respond to problems. Supporters said the regulations were needed to protect renters and neighbors, but opponents said it went too far and was unnecessary.

In Kennebunk, a public hearing on the short-term rental ordinance last December drew close to 100 people. A few people said that regulating the rentals was government overreach, but most people who attended were just looking for more information, Brown said. There was no organized opposition leading up to the June 11 vote.

“I think that’s why the vote was overwhelmingly in favor,” he said. “It’s not overly restrictive at this point. I think we’re doing the right thing because our main purpose is to find out how many rentals we have.”

There have been some complaints about noise and parking related to short-term rentals, but Kennebunk already has ordinances to address those issues, Brown said.