BRICK – The council’s Land Use Committee presented a Short Term Rental Ordinance to assist Code Enforcement with addressing problems that have surfaced with short term rentals.
The ordinance, which was introduced at a recent Township Council meeting, enables the township to act in assuring that landlords be held to sufficient standards of responsibility in order to preserve the peace and tranquility for the township’s permanent residents, said Council President Lisa Crate.
It could help to prevent “animal house”-type parties such as one that occurred in Bayview this July after a house party got out of control when over 400 people attended. A Brick police officer was struck by a vehicle while trying to break up the party.
The committee reviewed ordinances from other local municipalities and found that Toms River had one that would be the most beneficial for Brick, Crate said.
“That ordinance sets a minimum of 30 days for what is defined as a short-term rental,” she said. “The ordinance will make an exception for the barrier island from May 15 through September 15, specifically a provision to allow for a rental term of no less than seven days.”
Other suggestions will be incorporated into the Land Use policy issuing short-term rentals certificate of occupancy notifications regarding sanitation collection schedules and rules, etc.
After the meeting, Business Administrator Joanne Bergin said the ordinance became necessary after residents from a number of neighborhoods complained.
“The Council’s Land Use Committee (chaired by Councilman Paul Mummolo) discussed the need for a short-term rental ordinance to assist code enforcement in terms of addressing the problems that have surfaced with short-term rentals,” she wrote in an email.
As of May 15 2020, any short-term rentals which include but are not limited to Airbnb and VRBO, are not permitted in the township for less than seven days under the Police Chief’s Proclamation of Local Disaster Emergency Declaration that remains in effect, Bergin said.
A property owner can rent for less than one week (a weekend for example) but is not allowed to move in another tenant in less than one week, she explained.
“The Chief’s Executive Order is helpful, but an ordinance needs to be codified to allow for enforcement by code enforcement,” Bergin said.
In this ordinance, the township can act against the landlord if there are two convictions of any municipal ordinance governing disorderly conduct in a 24-month period, she said.
Public comment and adoption of the ordinance would most likely take place during the November 10 council meeting.
In other news, Mayor John G. Ducey noted that the Social Security cost of living increase went up 1.3 percent this year, which he said does not seem like enough when compared to the 3 percent increase in the senior consumer price index.
“There is state legislation that is out there,” he said. “Hopefully our state legislators will move on it, that would change social security and move it to the senior consumer price index rather than the cost of living.”
And finally, the first-ever Fall Farmers Market will take place at Windward Beach Park on Princeton Avenue on November 21 from 9 a.m. until noon.
