ENFIELD — Enfield leaders are asking for the public’s input on a proposal for a short-term rental ordinance.

The Selectboard will host a public hearing at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the Public Works Facility at 74 Lockehaven Road. It can also be streamed on Microsoft Teams via enfield.nh.us.

The intention is to gather more information about the short-term rentals in town and create a registry.

“In no way is it meant to restrict people from having them,” Rob Taylor, Enfield’s land use and community development administrator, said. “The goal with this ordinance was to make sure the town got notified this was going on.”

Currently, town officials have no clear picture of how many short-term rentals exist in town, Taylor said. From what he’s heard from residents and observed, the majority of the rentals are near or around the town’s lakes. In recent years, there’s been an uptick in investment firms buying properties in Enfield, he added.

“It’s not just a family living on the lake renting out their place to their friends,” Taylor said. “It’s now companies coming in, buying these properties and doing it as a business.”

In the draft, a short-term rental is defined as a “dwelling unit where transient lodging is provided for compensation for stays of between one and 30 consecutive nights, and where the dwelling unit would normally be considered a residential living unit not associated with regulated commercial activities such as a hotel, inn, motel or bed-and-breakfast.”

One of the provisions of the ordinance calls for owners to have someone within a 30-minute drive of the property “who is authorized to accept calls for and respond to questions, complaints and service requests.”

Like Taylor, Town Manager Ed Morris emphasized that the ordinance aims to serve as a registry rather than as an enforcement tool.

“More than anything, it’s that registry and having someone responsible in the area if our police end up there if there’s a problem, they can call and someone’s available to take care of the problem,” Morris said. That could include concerns about parking or overcrowding.

The ordinance also calls for working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers in kitchens and occupancy limits. Under the proposal, there cannot be more than two people per bedroom plus two, “unless the applicant can show the property is adequate and permitted for more.” For example, a three-bedroom house could have eight occupants, Taylor said.

“You can’t have 15, you can’t have 20, and those are the things that have ruined short-term for a lot of people,” he said.

Other parts of the ordinance address parking and trash removal. Morris said he’s heard from residents who have concerns about cars parked along narrow roadways, as well as complaints about noise.

“There seems to have been more this year than there has been in the past,” he said.

The draft calls for short-term rentals to be inspected by the town and for owners to pay a $50 annual fee for a permit, which must be renewed every year.

Morris stressed that the proposed ordinance — which originated with former Town Manager Ryan Aylesworth, who worked on a proposal in 2020 with Taylor — is just a draft and that residents will have an opportunity to vote on it before it goes into effect.

“It will end up being voted on at Town Meeting no matter what we do, because it’s an enforceable ordinance that will affect the public,” Morris said.

Martha Rich, president of the Mascoma Lake Association, said that the group has not discussed the proposed ordinance.

“It’s not an issue that has come to the Lake Association at all,” she said. She also noted that some members have short-term rentals themselves and that the association has been working to notify all members about the upcoming public hearing.

For a full copy of the draft ordinance, visit tinyurl.com/ypzjxdn4. Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.