Council Tables Short-Term Rental Ordinance After Pushback from Hosts and Neighbors
Listen
With Councilors Hughes and Lefkovits absent, the council heard extensive public comment on its proposed short-term rental (Airbnb) ordinance, up for second reading and a public hearing. A homeowner who rents a permitted carriage-house unit argued the ordinance would unfairly penalize compliant hosts serving mostly visiting family members, and proposed alternatives such as enforcement tied to actual violations, background-check requirements, licensing fees, or grandfathering existing compliant rentals rather than an outright ban. Council members said the ordinance grew out of complaints from residents elsewhere in town about non-carriage-house, non-owner-occupied rentals with high turnover, unclear occupancy and possible illegal conversion of a single-family home into multiple units. After debate, the council voted to table the ordinance for further revision so it could be reconciled with the borough's existing carriage-house zoning rules before any final adoption.
Council gave final adoption to Ordinance No. 1795, repealing and replacing the borough's designated stop-sign intersections. It also authorized an emergency, non-competitively-bid $51,100 contract with RNR Construction of Chester to stabilize a retaining wall and streambed along Toney's Brook near the Clark Street bridge by the pool, citing immediate risk to adjacent properties, and approved the roughly $37,500 purchase of a 2023 John Deere Gator utility vehicle for snow removal through a state educational-services cooperative purchasing agreement.
Several residents again urged the council to move faster on a gas-powered leaf-blower ban, with one speaker saying he was "getting anxious" about the pace; council members said a formal recommendation was expected soon from the Environmental Advisory Committee. Council withdrew Resolution 145-23, related to a Safe Routes to School grant, because final grant amounts had not yet been confirmed; continued 2023 summer municipal office hours; adopted a tobacco-free worksites resolution; and was recognized as a "Gold" community in the state's Safe Routes to School program. Administrator Zichelli again urged residents to lock their cars and not leave key fobs inside amid ongoing vehicle break-ins, and reported the high school-area parking changes adopted earlier in the year have drawn zero complaints. A dedicated traffic safety officer on duty since August 7 has made more than 300 motor vehicle stops and issued over 100 summonses.
All votes that evening passed unanimously among the four councilors present (Mans, Law, Meyer and Morrow).
What to watch
- Short-term rental (Airbnb) ordinance tabled indefinitely, expected to return once reconciled with carriage-house zoning rules
- NJDOT road paving contract (Glen Ridge Avenue, Sherman Avenue, Argyle Street) expected to be awarded at the October 23 meeting
- Formal gas-powered leaf-blower ordinance recommendation expected from the Environmental Advisory Committee
- Resolution 145-23 (Safe Routes to School grant) to return once the final grant amount is confirmed