Berlin residents weigh in on new short term rental licensing agreement

BERLIN, Md.- After a Berlin Mayor and Council Meeting Monday, the town adopted a new ordinance dealing with short term rentals.

“Berlin has been concerned about short term rentals, making sure they are being responsible, making sure they know who they are, currently there’s no licensing that exists,” Colin Zimmerman, Director of Government Affairs at Coastal Association of Realtors, said.

During that meeting, residents voiced their concerns about creating that ordinance, which establishes regulations and a licensing agreement regarding these rental properties.

“The humans that I was there with just wanted to ensure that our town would be owned and operated by Berlin people, so that an entire block of houses couldn’t be purchased by an outside investment group,” Tony Weeg, a Berlin resident, said.

“The side that had been in favor they loved the fact that families were able to come to Berlin and be within walking distance to main streets and fill up our restaurants,” Cameron Drew, the Chair of Government Affairs Committee and the Secretary of the Organization, said.

While that ordinance eventually passed that evening, members of the Coastal Association of Realtors said it’s restrictive as it stands right now. They are also disappointed because they’ve been working with the town to come up with what they consider to be a reasonable licensing agreement that addresses the needs of residents, but still allows short term rentals to happen.

“The end result ended up being that in R-1 and R-2 Districts they are no longer able to rent their homes unless they are owner occupied, meaning that you have to occupy the property for more than 180 days,” Drew said.

“Unfortunately, that’s going to be a huge hit to a number of people who live there, to a number of people who are actively trying to move to Berlin, said.

One Berlin resident we spoke with said he is in favor of the new ordinance, but thinks there are details that still need to be ironed out.

“I’m not sure that our entire breadth of our Mayor and Council fully understands the whole process or the apps or the website,” Weeg said.

Zimmerman said he would prefer a brand new ordinance be drafted. And, Drew said this is going into effect this summer, so people planning on coming to Berlin to vacation may have to change their plans depending on where their rental is.

We did reach out out to the Berlin Mayor and Council members to see what they had to say about the meeting, but they either did not get back to us or were unable to speak Wednesday.