MACHIASPORT — The Machiasport Planning Board is drafting an ordinance that would require owners of short‑term rentals to register their properties.
The board discussed the measure Thursday as the town looks for ways to keep more of its housing stock in local hands.
“We are probably going to become a vacationland,” Planning Board Chair Robert Arseneau said at the monthly meeting.
He called driving tourism “the best thing we can do,” while acknowledging the need for regulation.
Ryan Maker, chair of the Machiasport Board of Selectmen, attended the meeting to represent the board’s interest in understanding the impact of short‑term rentals on the town.
The short‑term rental units in question are considered “naturally occurring affordable housing,” or NOAHs.
In 2023, the Maine Housing Authority determined such units have economic value as affordable housing that overlaps with community needs.
Questions about how NOAHs affect Machiasport’s housing landscape come as concerns over rising housing costs continue to grow.
In the decade after 2015, income in Maine rose 44 percent, while the income needed to buy an average home jumped 187 percent, according to Maine’s 2026 housing outlook. Demand in the years after the COVID‑19 pandemic and property revaluations account for some of the regional increases. Renters have seen little relief, as they also face rising costs.
But with only 1.5 percent of Washington County’s housing inventory qualifying as NOAHs, Arseneau said the economic risk to the housing market is minimal — for now.
The Planning Board is expected to focus its review of the proposed ordinance on two areas: public safety and the experience of Machiasport residents and visitors. The board is also looking to Stonington’s 2023 ordinance as a loose template.
Stonington, a popular coastal vacation town with a year‑round population of about 1,000, is similar to Machiasport in its size and shoreline access. But Planning Board member Charles Ingalls said that may be where the similarities end.
“Stonington and Lubec are quite different from our makeup,” Ingalls said of nearby towns that have explored short‑term rental ordinances.
Stonington officials noted in their ordinance that nonresidents own more than half of downtown properties and two‑thirds of coastal properties.
These numbers stand in contrast to the dozen or so short‑term rental units in Machiasport typically listed on sites such as Airbnb or Vrbo.
But even a small inventory of vacation homes is a concern for Machiasport when it comes to code enforcement. Given the town has one part‑time code enforcement officer, the Planning Board is unsure how much managing NOAH safety compliance would cost — financially or in staff time. On this point, members agreed that Stonington can’t be the model.
“I’m not saying we mimic Stonington,” Maker said during the discussion, “but right now, Machiasport has nothing.”
That sentiment underscores the selectman’s growing concern about preserving Machiasport’s way of life.
Arseneau suggested that the ordinance place responsibility on vacation rental owners to prioritize safety and quality of life. He said the town could do this without adding significant new demands on staff members by requiring rental hosts to post policies on noise, conduct and rental‑home safety in a prominent and permanent way — for example, mounted in a picture frame.
The Planning Board is also reviewing requirements established under state law and considering how an ordinance could reinforce them.
Still, a registration system similar to Stonington’s is one step the Machiasport Planning Board is eager to pursue — something intended to be monitored over time, Arseneau said at the meeting.
Maker called the registration process a “first step” in what will be a multistep effort to ensure vacation rentals have minimal impact on residents.
The rest of the process is not yet clear, but Planning Board members and Maker said they want to ensure that any restrictions do not limit residents’ ability to open their homes as short‑term rentals — a source of tourism and added income for Machiasport.
Melissa S. Razdrih is a Community Reporting Fellow receiving training through the Journalism New England Career Lab to do civic reporting that provides people in towns across New England with the information they need to be engaged in their community.
