Representatives of the Raymond Short-Term Rental Initiative collecting signatures for a petition to call a special town meeting. Contributed / Raymond Short-Term Rental Initiative

The Raymond Short-Term Rental Initiative is seeking an extraordinary town meeting in order to address the recent rise in short-term rental homes.

Over the last two decades, Raymond has seen a noticeable decrease in the amount of housing units occupied by local families, going from 64% to 60%. This has been accompanied by a rise in vacant properties owned by non-residents. Nicole Keough, of the STR Initiative, said that there are more and more properties being purchased for use as short-term rentals, as opposed to those who want to settle in Raymond permanently.

According to Keough, the increase in short-term rentals has led to a rise in “dark neighborhoods,” particularly along the shores of Sebago Lake. Keough defined dark neighborhoods as ones made up entirely of homes that are completely vacant unless rented out. Residents, she said, were concerned about bad behavior coming from guests in those neighborhood, such as parking on private driveways, trespassing, or having large parties that can lead to houses with a capacity of six people housing more than 30. Keough also noted that there were environmental concerns coming from the misuse of the shoreland properties, as well as the general lack of respect that some renters had to their surroundings.

In response, a number of Raymond citizens came together and started taking notes, looking into other towns that have short-term rental ordinances, and seeing how they could put something together that could work for all parties. Many of these were neighbors of short-term rentals who had issues with misuses of the property and noise disturbances. Many of them had reached out to rental property owners, who were oftentimes based outside Raymond or even outside of Maine entirely, but never heard back from them.

Keough stressed that the Short-Term Rental Initiative was not looking to ban short-term rentals entirely, but rather seeking to “preserve the peaceful environment of (their) surroundings for all who come to the neighborhood.”

The most notable outreach move of the Short-Term Rental Initiative was to establish a booth at Jordan Small Middle School, Raymond’s only polling place, on Election Day. The initiative encouraged voters to sign a petition that would compel the town to either call a special town meeting on the subject or add a proposed ordinance for the regulation and licensing of short-term rentals to plans for the forthcoming meeting. The petition received enough signatures to be submitted to town officials.

The reason for the petition was because the Short-Term Rental Initiative had gone to the Select Board twice over the past three years, Keough said, but the Select Board was not particularly receptive to the initiative’s plans. According to Keough the board said that they would only work with the concerned residents if there was a statewide directive compelling them to make a short-term rental ordinance.

“We (didn’t feel like we could) wait for the state to dictate what needs to be done,” said Keough, “so we took it upon ourselves.”

With the success of the petition, the initiative’s next step would be to present it to the Select Board. This would force the board to address the situation and to work with the group. The group hopes the board would hold a special town meeting on the issue. Keough envisioned the meeting as a form of “contract negotiation” for all parties to discuss the initiative’s draft ordinance.

On Election Day, Keough recalled hearing the perspectives of both sides of the debate, from both short-term rental owners and neighbors. What those in the initiative are looking for, she said, is to work with all the stakeholders and town officials to find an ordinance that works for everyone. They are also concerned about the safety of rental property guests, and called for an inspection process to make sure that all properties are up to code.

“It’s really not just for the preservation or conservation of our year-round neighborhoods,” Keough told the Lakes Region Weekly. “It’s really for all (relevant parties), we’re trying to be as inclusive as possible.”