Still recovering from the STR trauma that destroyed my hometown

My husband and I currently live in a colonial home we renovated on Ashby Street in Mystic. I passionately believe that a proliferation of short-term rentals will harm Mystic. We must act now to ideally eliminate the use of short-term rental properties in Mystic, and at a minimum heavily regulate this industry that may end up becoming a parasite for our lovely town.

I first had the opportunity to come to Groton when the Navy sent me in 2008. I immediately fell in love with its New England charm and knew one day I wanted to call this home. The town reminded me fondly of where I grew up on the Isle of Palms (IOP), which is also a navy town in Charleston, SC. Growing up it was a very small community with many military retirees, school teachers, artists, etc. raising their families and looking out for one another. Many of my friends' parents and even grandparents grew up together (some even fought in WWII together). Everybody knew everybody. Does this sound familiar?

When the naval base closed in the early 90s, Charleston rebranded itself as a tourist destination to create more jobs. Unfortunately, the influx of investors building second homes and short-term rentals ended up driving the locals further out of town such that those who did have a job in Charleston could not afford to live there. Over the span of 15years, I witnessed my hometown turn into one with monolithic box homes hosting rotating out of state cars every week. Property prices and taxes went up and drove out all of the permanent residents. First, as retirees passed away their homes were demolished; then, middle-income families were forced out because they could no longer afford to live there. Today, very few teachers, firemen, restaurant servers, etc. can afford to live in the community and must commute upwards of an hour to work each day. Lastly, a vast majority of the homes on the IOP are second homes or property rentals being managed by realtor offices. Many realtor offices also had representation on town council, removing barriers to entry and ensuring laws remained in their favor. Does this sound familiar?

I share this background with you because I am fearful of what I am starting to see in our town, primarily the number of short-term rentals. What exactly is this doing to support the community? If I have learned anything during the pandemic, it is how wonderfully supportive our community and neighbors have been for each other. That support has helped keep our downtown restaurants and businesses open through the hardest times when no tourists were visiting. By allowing for short-term rentals to remain legal and proliferate, we will be attracting people into our community buying up homes only to flip or rent them as short-term rentals with no sense of community here. This will make it unaffordable for current residents to remain and drive away families looking for a place with a sense of community.

Between the strategic submarine base, Electric Boat's contracts to manufacture submarines, Pfizer's offices, and Foxwoods and Mohegan, Mystic and the surrounding towns here are built to survive without depending on a proliferated short-term rental economy. I implore you to support a ban of short-term rentals in the town of Groton. I worry if swift action is not taken, we will lose that New England charm and community that makes us so special.