At its regular meeting on Friday, May 21st, the Voting Board adopted a resolution which changes to the Club’s policy on residential rentals, including both long and short-term rentals. The resolution was passed by a vote of 14 to 2, with one abstention.
This action by the Voting Board follows many months of research, discussions with legal counsel, direct input from Club members in the form of petitions, emails and a community-wide opinion survey, and much thoughtful and lively debate amongst the Officers and Trustees.
President Michael Gelfand, writing in the upcoming issue of the Newsette, had this to say about the revised policy:
“The key philosophy here is simple: No member of Highland Lakes wants to live next to a hotel. That’s what this new policy is all about—it was designed and written to disincentivize members who see owning a home here as a lucrative business model without making it impossible for members who want to offset carrying costs of home ownership through intermittent renting. It will not appease everyone, and it will only work if we follow up on our enforcement of our rules and ensure that Vernon Township does the same. And even then it will probably need to be adjusted, but it’s a strong move forward. Some will say it’s too much, others will say it’s not enough, and looking back on it a few years from now I’m sure we’ll see how we got it wrong and made it better. Right now, it’s a good start. All the while this Voting Board and those that follow it will keep watching the issue and listening to the community on it, and we’ll continue to do what we think is best… because that’s what we were elected to do.”
Club members will soon be receiving an introductory letter, along with a copy of the Residential Rentals Policy, information on the registration process, fees and penalties, increased enforcement efforts and complaint procedures.
Click here to view a copy of the Residential Rentals Policy.
Click here for a copy of the Rental Registration Form.
Click here to view results of the community-wide Short-term Rental (STR) Survey.
