Pat Cocozza, who has lived in Egg Harbor Township for 24 years, saw a threat to her way of life in her Reserve neighborhood and decided to do something about it.
Cocozza, 66, realized some single-family houses in the township were accommodating online vacation rental companies such as Airbnb and Vrbo, and that the township was not regulating them.
On Wednesday, the Township Committee will consider an ordinance, spearheaded by Cocozza, to regulate short-term rentals of residential properties.
“I understand people want to go on vacation. That’s why there are hotels, motels, time shares and condominiums,” said Cocozza, who added short-term rentals can change the dynamic of a neighborhood. “There are 152 houses in our neighborhood. ... Lots of people in the development have young children.”
Usually, there are two or three dozen properties scattered throughout the township that are available for rent through online rental companies, township Administrator Peter J. Miller said.
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Cocozza appeared during a committee meeting in March with a petition signed by 53 of her neighbors seeking short-term rental regulations. She also gave photocopies of advertisements of township properties for rent to Miller.
“Please sign this petition to help be a part of this important movement to stop transient rentals where they do not belong,” the petition’s introduction read. “If it is not regulated, let’s face it, Egg Harbor Township will soon be full of nightly rentals since it’s lucrative for the absent owners, who want to turn a profit on their second homes.”
The ordinance prohibits short-term rental properties from being rented for a period of 30 days or less, but there are exceptions for certain neighborhoods and times of the year.
A minimum rental of seven days — not a weekend — will be permitted in the West Atlantic City section of the township as well as the neighborhoods of Anchorage Poynte and Seaview Harbor from May 15 through Oct. 15.
Violations of any provisions of the ordinance shall be punishable by a minimum fine of $100 or a maximum fine of $2,000, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days or by a period of community service not exceeding 90 days.
The issue is not new for Egg Harbor Township. Miller said it came up among members of the committee in 2016 and 2018.
“It was never a crisis. It was never a burning issue,” said Miller, who added Committeeman Joe Cafero had brought up the concept previously.
Some South Jersey shore towns have already passed ordinances to deal with short-terms rentals before and separate from temporary resolutions barring them to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Officials in Ventnor passed an ordinance that requires any hosts renting their homes for 30 days or less to apply for a mercantile license and pay a $100 fee. The license treats the properties more like a business.
Linwood City Council amended a zoning ordinance in September 2018 to ban Airbnb-style short-term rentals in the city. Short term was defined in the ordinance as less than 30 days.
In Ocean City, which also chose to require a mercantile license for renters in June 2017, short-term rentals are required to submit to safety inspections of smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers, and to pay a one-time annual fee of $145 toward the Ocean City Tourism Development Commission.
New regulations for short-term rental properties were adopted by Atlantic City in March, which officials believed would allow for greater local control.
The ordinance enacts a $1 per day promotional fee that will go toward the city’s Special Events Department, a tax of 3% that is equal to the total rental fee, and requires operators to provide guests with published standards of conduct and information about local laws.
Egg Harbor Township Committee holds its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the Community Center at 5045 English Creek Ave.
