The following is the full article from The Falmouth Enterprise article published on Friday, March 20, 2026, pages 1 & 13, entitled, “Changes On Town Meeting Floor Possible For Short-Term Rental Bylaw”.
A vote at the April 6 Town Meeting will decide whether Falmouth adopts its first-ever short-term rental (STR) bylaw, capping nearly two years of research, drafting and debate. The proposed regulation would require registration of properties rented for 31 consecutive days or less and establish rules for inspections, complaints and enforcement.
In addition to registering and regulating, the bylaw is intended to give the town a clearer picture of housing inventory and to prevent what STR Advisory Committee chairman Douglas C. Brown called a potential “corporate takeover” of residential neighborhoods by companies such as Airbnb and Vrbo.
Efforts to draft and pass the bylaw have been underway since 2023. A working group formed that year produced the first draft. After an indefinite postponement at the November 2024 Town Meeting, the STR Advisory Committee was appointed by the Select Board in 2025, with representation from the Falmouth Police Department, Planning Board, Select Board, Affordable Housing Committee, a real estate professional and a Community Preservation Committee member.
Recently, tensions have emerged between the committee and the Board of Health, which is designated as the enforcement body. Last week, Board of Health Chairman Jared “Jed” V. Goldstone attended a committee meeting to express concerns that the bylaw would overburden the board and divert staff from existing responsibilities. Committee members, including Thomas Crane, criticized the board for not participating in the drafting process.
“Not coming to one meeting, not making any specific recommendations—it’s frustrating,” Crane had said.
The bylaw directs the Board of Health to enforce rules through fines, suspensions or revocations of operator licenses and to develop regulations for inspections. Some board members, such as George H. Heufelder, argue this duplicates existing state sanitary and housing codes. Committee leaders say enforcement would primarily rely on operators responding to complaints themselves, with only unresolved issues escalating to the board for hearings.
Committee members Elizabeth M. Klein and Brown attended the Board of Health meeting on Monday, March 16, to continue the discussion and ask for suggestions to make the bylaw more acceptable to the board.
Under the bylaw, STR properties would be subject to inspection by the health, fire and building departments. Klein and Brown emphasized that the bylaw is not meant to create additional work for the board. Brown said some complaints may reach the board, but operators must be within 20 miles of their rental property to respond at all times or designate an operator who can be immediately available.
Under the bylaw, the operator—or their designee—would receive complaints, Brown said, not the Board of Health. “The hope is to correct any issues and address complaints before it needs to be sent to the Board of Health for a hearing,” he added. A hearing would be required for noncompliance, and a cause hearing would be needed before any license could be revoked—representing the extra work and time the Board of Health is concerned about.
Having passed two new bylaws last year—the single-use plastics regulation and the home-rule septic regulation—the Board of Health has been busy managing new variances and waivers, on top of its regular public health duties, including enforcing housing and septic codes. Biweekly meetings of the board average over three hours.
The STR bylaw would create a system that could lead to the revocation of an operator’s registration certificate if the rules are not followed. Complaints could come from neighbors if a property or its tenants are causing a nuisance. Initial nuisance complaints would likely be handled by the police, Brown said.
The Board of Health also raised concerns about inspections, which Brown said could be completed by a third-party contractor, video walkthrough or self-attestation.
The board is considering proposing amendments on the Town Meeting floor to expand its regulating authority and to direct only public health complaints to the Board of Health. Brown asked that any new language avoid removing text already approved by Town Counsel Maura O’Keefe.
Because the Board of Health’s input is coming so late, the STR Advisory Committee cannot anticipate what proposed amendments might include before Town Meeting, which is less than three weeks away.
“We’d probably be in a better place if we had participated from the start,” Kevin D. Kroeger, a member of the Board of Health, said.