Roll Call – Board Present: Chair Tom Murray, Vice-Chair Dave Edkins, Clerk Pauline Barnes, Tom Winmill. Alternates: Don Sellarole, Myra Mansouri. Absent: Board member Shane O’Keefe.

Call to Order: Mr. Murray called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. The Chair asked Alternate Sellarole to fill in for the absent board member. Mr. Sellarole agreed to do so.

Minutes: The date of the year of the meeting was corrected to 2024. Mr. Murray made two corrections. On page 1 the word “is” is repeated in the last sentence of paragraph 4 and on page 2 he corrected the spelling of the word “would” in criteria No. 3. Mr. Sellarole made a motion to approve the minutes as corrected. Ms. Barnes seconded the motion and the motion passed 4 to 0, with one member not voting.

Discussion of an email about Airbnbs:

This discussion came about because of an email about two potential properties in the Walpole village becoming Airbnbs and both are owned by people who would not live in Walpole. Both locations have limited parking. The email was sent to the chairs of both the Planning Board and the Zoning Board, the Manager of Administration and a Select Board member. The chair of the Zoning Board asked the chair of the Planning Board if he would be adverse if he brought it up at the meeting tonight. He said he would not.

Mr. Edkins immediately said that the board should not discuss this topic. If any board member gives an opinion or makes a statement about Airbnbs it would compromise their being impartial if some time in the future the issue comes before the Zoning Board, he said. He repeated what he has said may times that “the Zoning Board is an Appeals Board.”

Ms. Barnes said she disagreed. She read from the NH Supreme Court decision of May 2, 2023. Town of Conway v. Scott Kudrick. 

“Currently, many municipal ordinances do not clearly address STRs, and, as the trial court recognized, until they do we ‘will make decisions based on the language of the ordinances in effect, even if results vary from one municipality to the next.’ “

She continued by saying Town counsel Jeremy Hockensmith suggested a couple of years ago that Walpole should have an article in its zoning ordinances about Airbnbs. And Ms. Barnes reminded the board that that was also suggested at the joint meeting of both boards with the Southwest Region Planning Commission in July. She suggested that the topic be brought up at the next joint meeting with the Planning Commission and someone could ask them for suggestions regarding our ordinance.

Mr. Edkins said he didn’t have a lot of confidence in Mr. Hockensmith and that we did not have to take the advice of a former Select Board member. He said he wanted to preserve his integrity and would not take part in a discussion of Airbnbs and would leave. Mr. Edkins departed at 7:15 pm.

Mr. Winmill made a motion that the email be attached to the minutes. His written motion says

“Resolved, that to comply with the spirit of RSA 91-A-2, Right to Know law and to be open and transparent to citizens of Walpole the full and complete wording of the emailed references in the agenda of tonight’s meeting and the subsequent chain of responses be recorded in the minutes in an appendix as follows:

Mr. Sellarole said he agreed with some of what Mr Edkins said but also the Zoning Board has discussed the idea of needing an ordinance on long-term rentals on and off for the last couple of years. 

Ms. Mansouri said it is the role of the Planning Board to write articles for the Zoning Ordinances, but they haven’t been doing it. Past experience has been that when the Zoning Board has written a new zoning article to be put on the warrant, the next step was to present it to the Planning Board and they would tinker with it by adding, moving or changing the wording. The required public hearing is then held and when approved it would go on the warrant. She also thought the topic should come up at the next joint meeting with SWRPC.

At this point in the meeting Mr. Windmill’s motion was seconded by Mr. Murray. The vote was 3 yeas and 1 nay.

Discussion of the New Hampshire Municipal Association article, titled “N.H. Supreme Court Throws a Curveball on Short-term Rental Zoning Regulations,” was postponed to next month so that everyone would have a chance to read it.

Adjournment:

Mr. Murray made a motion to adjourn. Ms. Barnes seconded the motion and the motion carried. The time was 7:40 pm.

These minutes are unapproved and will be reviewed at the September meeting for corrections.

Respectfully yours,

Marilou Blaine

ZBA Secretary

This is the email referenced in the minutes to be posted with the minutes – Lil

Email from Peggy Pschirrer to Tom Murray, Jeff Miller, Steve Dalessio, Sarah Downing

Sunday two residents of Elm Street came to ask me about the legality of Airbnbs in Walpole.

A small house on Elm which shares a driveway is about to become an Airbnb as is the house under renovation on Main St. and Roger St.

We have no ordinances which speak to Airbnbs although Hockensmith has in the past told us it would be wise to write such an ordinance.

We have a zoning ordinance for B and Bs. Article IV L which requires a site plan approval by planning etc and RSA definitions/requirements. Our ordinance is a permissive ordinance. If it doesn’t specifically allow airbnbs, then they are illegal.

There are several airbnbs in Walpole which, to my knowledge, have not caused problems but parking could be an issue on both these new places. Also, I doubt that any existing Airbnb had a site plan review. Both houses are owned by out of town owners.

The NH Supreme Court issued a decision in 2023, Town of Conway v. Scott Kudrick, which ruled against the Town in an airbnb case. It had an interesting dissent. Obviously language is important in any ordinance.

I call this to your attention because while the current airbnbs seem not to bother anybody, these two new places are in tight neighborhoods with limited parking which may provoke objections. 

Best

Peggy