HOWELL – The Howell Township Council recently introduced a new ordinance that will ban short-term property rentals after dealing with several parties in town.
Some of the problematic house parties took place on Peter Forman Drive, officials said. Although, this summer isn’t the first time the town has dealt with an issue like this.
Last summer, police shut down a party with over 400 people. The “pop-up party” caused havoc in the Ramtown section of Howell. Many of the attendees were not even locals, police said.
Both the recent parties and previous ones were advertised online. The property owners rented out their home or backyard for the party and charged a fee.
Many residents who live on or near Peter Forman Drive created a petition wanting to ban these types of rentals and to stop the massive parties.
At the August 17 meeting, the Council introduced a Property Rental Ordinance in hopes to curb this issue.
“I have the petition. It’s over 56 households, over 100 residents. Sometimes technology beats us to the punch. That’s what happened here. Airbnb, college kids throwing frat parties. Now this Swimply went from simple pool parties, families gathering, Sweet 16s, to party promotions,” Councilman John Bonevich said. “I just want to ensure you that this council, this governing body and professionals are doing everything and we have an ordinance. We hear you. We are introducing an ordinance tonight, not only against hourly and daily rentals of homes, but as well as the amenities. We’re not taking this lightly. We are introducing it tonight, and it should be passed by the next meeting.”
The ordinance will prohibit the short-term rental of properties, rental of amenities, and advertisement of rentals.
Although public comment for the ordinance will be held at the next meeting, September 14, many residents had questions about the ordinance making sure every angle was covered.
Howell Township Attorney Joe Clark explained how the ordinance is similar to Toms River’s since they were having the same problems with pool rentals. In Toms River, the town had several issues with pools and other property amenities being advertised on Swimply.com.
