By Brett Yates
The Chittenden Planning Commission has begun crafting a potential short-term rental program that would require owners of properties listed on services like Airbnb and Vrbo to pay an annual registration fee to the town.
“Doing a quick search on Airbnb, Chittenden has several short-term rentals that we are not taking advantage of,” Planning Commission chair Abigail Elliott Bradish told the Chittenden Select Board on Jan. 13. “We as a planning commission are concerned about the lack of kids in our schools and the affordability to live here.”
Killington has regulated short-term rentals since 2020. In Rutland Town, the Select Board adopted a short-term rental ordinance last year on a 3-2 vote. The chair of the Rutland Town Planning Commission visited the Chittenden Planning Commission last week to discuss its development and implementation. “It took about a year to get that program up and running,” Bradish related.
She described a process of collaboration in Rutland Town among the planning commission, the town administrator, the Select Board, the town attorney, and a “third party” contracted to help identify properties. Chittenden, meanwhile, has not yet advanced beyond “preliminary research.”
In Rutland Town, owners of short-term rentals must pay a $100 annual fee. Killington’s fees vary according to the size of the dwelling, topping out at $600.
The state of Vermont defines a short-term rental as a “dwelling room or self-contained dwelling unit rented to the transient, traveling, or vacationing public for a period of fewer than 30 consecutive days and for more than 14 days per calendar year.” Last year, the Vermont General Assembly imposed a new statewide tax of 3% on such rentals.
