Mystic is About the People who live there - STR's are damaging that community

To the average tourist, Mystic is a quaint historic town, that offers a variety of restaurants and shopping opportunities and vistas along the Mystic River. Tourists can walk along the streets in the residential areas and downtown and experience a walk through 200 years of history. It is important to understand how it got that way and what might be necessary to maintain it into the 100 years.

I once had an opportunity to hear a relative the the Mallory family talk about the development of the shipping industry in Mystic. The Mallory family was instrumental in the ship building industry in Mystic. Prior too the 1890's Mystic was a major if not the major area in the United States where wooden ships were constructed. A story we've all come to know through the Mystic Seaport. A walk through town and a look at the historic signs on buildings tell us where various captains, sail makers, ship owners, shop owners, hat makers, workers, et al lived. You can follow the dates of houses along the streets from the 1820's as each year the streets were extended to include a few more houses.

The town of Mystic grew rather rapidly. An important feature was that for the residents everything was within walking distance. Stores developed in the downtown area that provided all that was needed by the residents who principally supported the ship building industry..... food, clothing, sundries, medicines. Traveling to other towns was made easy by the introduction of a trolly system that extended to Westerly and Old Mystic. The other form of transpiration was horse and carriage... but since the ship yards were so close, most residents moved about by walking.

Then a unique event happened. The steam engine was added to ships and steel ships began to appear. According the Mallory, within several years, the shipping industry moved entirely to New York City. Needless to say, Mystic was left supporting a rapidly dwindling wooden ship industry. All development in Mystic ceased and the town became somewhat frozen in time. A few industries such as the velvet factory were developed that sustained the community, but over the next 100 years, there was no pressure to "redevelop" downtown Mystic. That is replace old buildings with modern buildings and provide large parking lots to attract more customers. The residential areas surrounding downtown Mystic remained in tact for families and the downtown businesses served most of the shopping needs for these residents. This situation continued unchanged through World Wars I and II up to the 1960's. The residential community of Mystic now made mobil via the automobile could support a variety of industries that developed in southeastern Ct.

In the late 1960's the Mystic Historic District was formed to preserve the unique historic conditions the Mystic. This preservation is not just of the buildings, but of a scale of living I'd call a "walking" scale. Buildings cannot be torn down to make room for more parking. If you live here, when you drive home from work, you park your car, then you can walk just about anywhere you need to go after that. All-be-it many of the businesses are more tourist oriented these days, you can walk to the pharmacy, you can pick up some food, you can buy some new clothes. You can walk to three churches. You used to be able to walk to school. You can walk to the train station. If the walks are getting a little longer, you can ride a bike to the community center and a major grocery store. You can walk to barber shops and beauty salons.

We raised our family in Mystic. Within three to four houses of us there were other families with children. Children of all ages, so finding an older sister baby-sitter was always possible. Tourist wise, downtown Mystic struggled a bit so on-street parking was not a problem. Kids could walk downtown with friends to the ice cream shops. As the kids got older, the destination was the local coffee shop. All the parents knew each other and we'd find ourselves working together for charity events, library support, school board meetings, community events.

That is the Mystic I've been a part of for the past 50 years.... MYSTIC IS ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT LIVE THERE.

So what about STR's. Bad or Good?

The three houses that had families with kids 3 or 4 houses away from us are now STR's. I can't say that we've had any trouble with visitors. they are friendly and it's fun to talk with them to see where they are from and how they heard about Mystic. Typically there are 4 to 8 visitors per house... pretty much 80% of the time this past year. That relates to 3 to 4 extra cars always parking on the street.... and as I take a step back.... there are no kids in the near by or larger neighborhood anymore. My street in fully parked up Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Not sure I'd want to be raising little kids here just now.

STR's provide a great experience for the visitor but they displace housing opportunities for families who actually make up Mystic. Mystic is a unique historic town, not a historic museum to be visited and observed only. STR's may provide income opportunity to some residents but a few residents in pursuit of that income are destroying the very fabric that created the residential life in Msytic for 200 years.

Many argue an STR is not a motel or a hotel, just a right for an owner to rent his or her property. Essentially run a little "B&B" business. Currently the Zoning code of the Town of Groton does not permit a hotel or motel in any residential zone where STR's are operating.... defining HOTEL/MOTEL as "A builidng or buildings providing transient lodging to the general public for compensation, with daily cleaning service, and with or without meals of kitchen facilities" The Code does allow Bed and Breakfast businesses but only under highly controlled circumstances.

If you live next to an STR there is no question, these are motel rooms. If you live next to an STR there is also no question that an STR will be typically rented by a large group, utilizing every bedroom available. If there are four bedrooms, as next to me, 8 people are not unusual. That is equivalent to a 4 unit motel. Since I have three STR near me, my house is essentially next to a 12 unit motel and the attendant activities of that motel in terms of visitor activities and cleaning staff activities.

If the STR were required to meet parking standards of a motel, a four bedroom STR would require 4 off street parking spaces on the property that can be independently accessed (not a single driveway that holds four cars in tandem)..

Historically, Mystic is facing a change a large as the shipping industry moving to New York City. STR are currently financially attractive to home owners and developers. The attraction is "historic environment" of the businesses / river front in downtown Mystic. While a couple STR's in the neighborhood might not be too damaging to the community life of the residents surrounding the business district, the proliferation of many STR (as seems to be occurring in my immediate neighborhood) is damaging the residential environment for families. I think if the decision is to allow STR's in the Mystic Residential district then that is a decision that the next 100 years is exclusively about developing the tourist business of the Mystic downtown area at the expense of the residential housing opportunity. If the desire is to maintain and preserve the residential district for families then no STR should be permitted since in my experience they have an oversized impact on the residences immediately adjacent to each STR.