Don't Let THEM Ruin Our RESIDENTIAL Neighborhood and CASHOUT Years Later After They Destroy It

BIG TIME INVESTORS AND LLCs, AND WANABE HOTEL OWNERS ARE DESTROYING MYSTIC ONE STR AT A TIME.

Twenty-three years ago this fall I bought my home in the Mystic Historic District. It was a dilapidated, gray, 4-unit apartment house the NONRESIDENT LANDLORD (NONRES) sold to me for less than he paid years earlier because it was his only offer. Since then, with my two hands, I have slowly restored most of the charm back into the 190 year old home of a Mystic Sea Captain and his family once lived. Over the past 20 plus the years I’ve seen many changes in Mystic. Some good changes like burying the power lines and installing period streetlights to restore the charm of downtown Mystic, and some really, really bad changes from bad decisions by people that don't live here and only use Mystic to leverage a buck from the tourists without the forsight to see that they are destroying the thing they are bargaining/profiting from. They don't live here so they just cash out for loss and invade the next opportunity.

In the last ten years local architects banned together and ousted our historic district commissioners only to install their interests and compromise the historical appropriateness of Mystic at the indifferent whim of their rich client. In the last 5 years the TOG ZONING ALLOWED AN ACTUAL BED AND BREAKFAST TO START OPERATION by the Noank Library IN A ZONED RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD, SPICER MANSION, where recently an newspaper add talked about some rich lobbyist from Washington DC area was sueing the Spicer Mansion landlord for thousands of dollars because he had to reschedule his kid’s weddings plans for 170 some odd dinner guests. These rich NONRES investors have absolutely no consideration of our community and neighborhood. The Spicer Mansion even started operating as a restaurant serving meals to folks not overnighting there ignoring commercial business laws and regulations that the law abiding restaurants in commercial Mystic must follow. These recent bad decisions are unforgiveable and will continue if something isn't done to ban these STRs.

These non-residents (NONRES) investors in MA, NY, NJ and LLCs from anywhere but here buy our homes and turn them into motels where hoards the rich, 30 somthings from out-of-state invade and trash our neighborhoods like freshman on spring break. My home had zero STRs adjoining my property and in the last five years 3 out of 5 adjoining properties are STRs because the town of Groton does nothing to enforce zoning laws as if the STRs have them in their pocket or because some of the town employees actually own STRs. More than once I have called the Groton police, during the CT COVID-19 sequestering period, to report an adjacent STR where the NONRES property owner allowed transients from New York to stay, stroll our neighborhoods and downtown with complete disregard for the safety of the older neighbors that live here year around. More than once I’ve called Groton police on the NONRES allowing their transients to host drunken parties with a dozen of their Boston or New York or NJ friends until 2 am. Recently my neighbor down the street passed away and within months a NY realotor, a NONRES, bought it and has turned it into a motel and has even gone so far to be seen stuffing matressess up a tiny stairway in that barn that was never zoned or taxed as a living space so they can advertise their motel for $600.00 a night to 12 transients/tourists. Like the NONRES that sold me my home for less than he paid for it, these NONRES with their property manager “hosts” and lawyers would destroy the neighborhood where they invested only to complain they didn't get what they paid for it when they CASHOUT. They don’t live here and don’t care for anything but money. Like a parasite drains the life from its host it kills then disgards that corps for the next poor, stupid, victim, so do these NONRES that drain the charm and history from our community, our neighborhoods.

Everyone that allows these NONRES to do this to Historic Mystic District and does not join in banning them gives these NONRES the right to DO THE SAME THING TO THEIR BACKYARD. We aren’t just residents, taxpayers, and voters; these are our homes, and we live here. Show these rich NONRES and their lawyers and their property managers that our neighborhood matters - to us - before our neighborhoods do not matter to anyone. Ban STRs. Historic Mystic District is zoned residential not commercial. Anyone putting STR rent money in their pocket (rich LLCs, property managing hosts, wanabe innkeepers) are breaking the "common sense" law that a MOTEL ISN'T A RESIDENCE ... please help preserve Mystic.