At Tuesday night’s Regular monthly Board Meeting, the Northampton Board of Supervisors voted to postpone action on a new ordinance regulating short-term rentals.
The surge in short-term rentals has become a focal point of contention for locals, with residents voicing mounting concerns about the strain these accommodations place on their neighborhoods.
Amid the influx of tourists coming to the Eastern Shore, the proliferation of short-term rentals has amplified stress within the local communities such as Cape Charles and Smith Beach. The convenience of platforms such as Airbnb, that offer easy access to these rentals have contributed to an exponential increase in their numbers.
Noise disturbances, parking woes, and disruptions to the serene fabric of residential areas top the list of grievances. The revolving door of visitors, though beneficial to the local economy, has reshaped the feel of the Shore, often eroding the sense of community that long-term residents cherish. The summers in Cape Charles are a perfect example.
Short-term renters, whose lack of investment in the community leads to a transient culture that affects the social cohesion and stability of neighborhoods. The constant turnover also creates challenges for maintaining a sense of security and safety.
Northampton County is finally starting to recognize the need for a balance between the economic opportunities these rentals bring and the preservation of community well-being. Amending the zoning code could help to regulate and manage short-term rentals, hopefully mitigating the adverse effects on neighborhoods.
Objections to the County’s zoning text amendment focus on the requirement of the Special Use Permit. Those looking to exploit the limited housing for their profit worry that the amendment would limit their ability to promote more short-term rental development projects.
The Board of Supervisors is set to revisit the issue at its January Regular meeting.
The board of supervisors couldn’t pour piss out of a boot even if the instructions were written on the bottom.
Just kick the can down the road. They ain’t going to do anything for the community!
They’re scared!
I regreat that I did not attend the meeting. I am convinced that Short -Term rentals bring advantages to Northampton County. Consider this when we vacation: where do we lodge? What do we do as individuals? What do we rent? Do we find ourselves in someone’s neighborhood? Reflect on our behavior and how we treat the rented property and area. Once we have addressed these questions, ponder on the Visitors to Northampton County. Are they fundamentally different from us?
I agree ! I feel this article is written as though the folks that rent the Airbnb’s are vagabond criminals coming to wreak havoc on the shore, when in reality , they are usually hardworking folks coming to enjoy a vacation with their family and loved ones .
Then you should let them stay at your house.
I do.
No, I mean all of ‘them’…
No can do Paul…. They are putting in rental restriction to prevent me doing so.
Paul?
Okay, but I’m not a part of that conversation, although as a compassionate humanist, I can feel your pain, although I don’t share it.
No pain here. Always an entertaining and comical read tho.
Are they fundamentally different from us?
And who would be “us,” Maggie?
Are you suggesting that people are made with a cookie cutter from the same dough ball?
As to short-term rentals from the common citizen’s perspective, and yes, they also deserve a voice, this blog entry expresses it well:
Having an Airbnb operating right next door to your home can be frustrating.
The constant flow of strangers, loud parties, and vehicles parked everywhere are enough to make anyone want to have their neighbor’s Airbnb shut down immediately.
Is that what you are advocating?
Are those your kind of people, who are not fundamentally different from you?
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was the absolute worst thing that ever happened to The Eastern Shore of Virginia. Period.
Plain and simple.
Short term rentals are not beneficial to Northampton County.
The short time renter, is rude, inconsiderate and can care less about the community.
As a once homeowner in the area, it is non stop party for short term renters during the summer. They park anywhere they like. They don’t know the meaning of indoor bathrooms. They fly up and down the roadways in cars and golf carts. There is no law enforcement in town, if you are a renter. If you do rent, the home is in shambles when they leave. Broken glass, puke, urine, bottles, cans are everywhere.
The homeowner that does not rent out, believes they found the perfect place to retire, but in reality. They are told “What did you expect when you moved here”? PEACE AND QUIET!
The anguish for the homeowners, weekend after weekend is intolerable and non stop chaos.
People avoid the areas during the summer. They don’t want to put up with the foolishness and traffic back up.
So the only one benefitting from short term rentals. Are the people that clean up or repair from the renters and the owners that don’t live there!
It’s happening more and more with each new summer.
“If you do rent, the home is in shambles when they leave. Broken glass, puke, urine, bottles, cans are everywhere”……………..IF that were true I doubt many people would want to rent their homes.
You are a Come-Here, for sure.
For sure. And nothing you can do about it. Here to stay 😉
I don’t wish to do anything about it…it is just so obvious you people are not locals. You can tell just by the words you all type that you are not from The Eastern Shore of Va. Everyone has a Home that they come from. If you move, you have left your Home and now reside in someone else’s Home.
And yes, Funk China Joe, Kamal-Toe and their little dogs too.
And I bet you believe Joe Biden is the best president since Jimmy Carter.
Crawl back under your rock, Karen!
The people making these unfounded complaints are the epitome of a Karen and FJB
Your slip is showing…
You are both so wrong. For the record…. No Karen here.
FJB.
I do believe in private property rights tho.
And way less government. Federal State and town.
Btw…. Your police comment was not accurate. Virginia has 2.23 police officers per thousand. A steadily dropping ratio because of technology.
Cape Charles has 1174 full time residents roughly.We swell to double that for summer and triple that for 3 big weekends.
We have 9 or 10 police cruisers. Police ATVs, multiple (3 I believe) police drones…. A police boat, police bikes and trailers and pickups etc. Enough with the not enough police stuff. We have way too many police 9 months of the year.
Y’all sound a bit like establishment Uniparty swamp creatures……. God I hope not……
AMEN
JUST SAY NO TO STR’s
Noise disturbances, parking woes, and disruptions to the serene fabric of residential areas top the list of grievances. The revolving door of visitors, though beneficial to the local economy, has reshaped the feel of the Shore, often eroding the sense of community that long-term residents cherish. The summers in Cape Charles are a perfect example.
Short-term renters, whose lack of investment in the community leads to a transient culture that affects the social cohesion and stability of neighborhoods. The constant turnover also creates challenges for maintaining a sense of security and safety.
All completely unproven. Visitors have not been shown at all to be more prone to any violations at all. Nor has their lack of ownership caused any great problems, likely given they are usually nice family groups renting relatively expensive properties.
What revolving door of visitors are you talking about?
Many renters come back year after year to the same places. Revolving door is not at all an accurate description of renters in this town.
Additionally the “rental” restrictions are having a monopolizing effect given those with large numbers of rentals (usually longer term residents) already in place suffer nothing and the little guy with plans for a single rental property in the future to help pay for their property, pays the price. So the rich get richer.
Tourists have been and continue to be the savior of this town. Let us not be foolish.
Doubt me? Just look at a rainy cold festive Friday. That’s what no tourists looks like. Sad little town full of businesses closing early and suffering…… like they were a few years ago . Does anybody remember how “the feel of the Shore, often eroding the sense of community that long-term residents cherish. ” was doing in the nineties and early 2000’s? Crack houses, dilapidated buildings and very little commerce. Is that the Quaint Little Community you refer too?
If so…. Many, likely even most of us aren’t with you. Perhaps this should be put to a public referendum to be sure.
Also, if bed and breakfasts rent to 5 or six people perhaps they should have to count as more than one rental. B&B’s certainly result in more cars than a house rental …. Parking being that which town management has determined as one of the biggest issues in Cape Charles….and as far as utility stresses…… far worse than a rental house which likely has a lower actual occupancy number.
Why the favorable treatment for some and not others .We seem to continue to have this problem repeatedly.
Town management is making our quaint little town seem quite inhospitable and unwelcoming to new businesses and renters and potential investors all. Not a good thing.
I heard a couple of those horrible revolving door people talking at a restaurant in town a while back. Actually referred to the town as “Cape Corrupt” after describing an interaction with Cape Charles finest.
Is this really what we are looking for? It is undeniably the result of this town council and town management team. It their track record at this point. We all have some thinking to do.
People viewing Cape Charles as inhospitable, unwelcoming and stuck up, benefits none of us.
(at least if you are one who disagrees that the bridge was the scourge of the Eastern Shore… see comments section above)
And then there is the value loss. Nobody wants to talk about the value loss. Homes in town will go down in value likely 20-25 percent without the ability to be rented. That’s likely a hundred grand minimum value hit to homeowners throughout town. Bigger properties…. Bigger hits. Ask a realtor.
As a real estate investor for many years I promise I will pay more for the same property that could earn me several thousand a week verses the one next door that can’t. Not talking rocket science here.
Perhaps the real issue is that the town council and town management feel we are at a crossroads. Quaint or prosperous? You choose…..
This is a false dichotomy.
These people may not know how to accomplish this dual goal but, there are many towns both bigger and quainter…. than Cape Charles who have management teams successful in this endeavor. Maybe we should hire some of them.