Board votes 6-1 to take new regs to neighborhoods

By Greg Ellison

(June 24, 2021) The Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors wants to excercise oversight of short-term rentals, and voted voting 6-1 last week to bring the association’s declaration of restrictions in line with Worcester County licensing regulations.

Director Frank Daly offered the motion to amend declaration of restrictions in neighborhood sections to incorporate county code governing short-term rentals, litter and noise.

“This approach will be no more restrictive on owner rights than existing law but will give Ocean Pines the power to enforce and fine property owners in violation of these codes,” he said.

Daly said repeat violations would result in the suspension of lot owners’ ability to rent short-term.

The guidelines would establish formal methods to notify county government of unlicensed rentals, and ensure that that occupancy limits, noise, trash and parking regulations are followed.

“We want to implement additional objective restrictions for the mutual comfort of all neighbors,” he said.

Daly said rental regulations would need to be posted in a conspicuous area within rental properties.

Casting the sole opposition vote was Director Tom Janasek, who proposed forming a work group to develop and publicize rule proposals.

“There are no rules in this [and] what is it going to cost?” he said. “It’s just too wide open for me.”

Janasek also questioned who would foot the bill for enforcement.

“How many CPI inspectors are we going to have to hire to do weekend work … and answer all these phone calls?” he said.

Janasek said the proposed guidelines are identical to current county rental regulations, which were instituted a few years ago with little promise of follow-up.

“You’ve talked to all the good old boys who put this thing together and they say that they’re not willing to enforce,” he said. “They’ve never been questioned … and now they are.”

Pre-empting county responsibilities is not the responsibility of the association, Janasek said.

“They’re going to have to start enforcing it and I don’t think that we need to start getting involved in enforcing,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to afford it in employment and all the fees we’re going to have to pay attorneys.”

Director Doug Parks, who lauded the years-long campaign undertaken by Daly, concurred in principal.

“This isn’t some fly-by-night cocktail-napkin approach to things,” he said.

Still, Parks said the guidelines to address issues with noise, litter and parking should be applied throughout the community and not specifically for short-term rentals.

“We need to address all of those,” he said.

Parks said a multi-part process is warranted.

“I want to see something more concrete with regard to the exact process that will be followed,” he said. “How is the enforcement going to work, how is reporting and follow-up going to work and what’s it going to cost us.”

Daly said establishing a fine structure could prove challenging, noting the objections from the community when the concept was last proposed.

“They simply don’t trust us,” he said. “We can’t eliminate 50 years of mistrust.”

Daly said residents need to be convinced the current board and general manager, along with subsequent administrations, would not abuse their authority to impose fines.

“Trust is earned not given,” he said.

Fine systems instituted by homeowners’ associations typically include an initial warning for infractions, followed by incrementally increasing fines for subsequent violations, Daly said.

In terms of enforcement, Daly doubted the undertaking would be costly.

“There’s no intent here to hire 500 people, nor do I think there’s any reason to do so,” he said.

Based on conversations with numerous association members, Daly said maintaining the current complaint-driven system seems preferable.

“They don’t want a proactive, aggressive HOA walking around house by house looking for violations and fining for them,” he said. “People have also made it clear when we bring a complaint to you we don’t want you to walk away from it.”

Daly also cast doubt that county officials would take charge of tracking down rental violations.

“They don’t have the budget to get the resources and they don’t have the resources to allocate for enforcement,” he said.

Admitting extensive work remains, Daly said this initial board approval would be step one.

“We want the community to tell us what they want us to do,” he said, adding that information on the regulations would be sent to property owners in the next budget mailing.

“We put out information that this question is coming out to you … if it passes here’s what it means,” he said.

Director Dr. Colette Horn, who credited Daly for navigating the “long road” in pursuit of the new rules, proposed to widen to approach.

“The problems that we see with the short-term rentals have certainly been highlighted but we have also heard from a number of homeowners who have inflicted these kind of difficulties on their neighbors,” she said.

Horn then announced plans to expand the motion at next month’s board meeting to include long-term rentals and residential properties.

Parks agreed to back the motion after assuring residents a multi-stage process would be required to institute rental regulations.

Daly said guidelines would ultimately be approved or disapproved by neighborhood section for individual declaration of restrictions.

“This is a vote that will pass or fail in each community,” he said.

Perrone acknowledged specifics have yet to be nailed down.

“The first step is to authorize doing the change in the DRs then we would have to form a group to develop the process,” he said.