Brigantine, New Jersey looks to crack down on party homes
Brigantine's mayor wants to hear from more residents before new legislation is written.
BRIGANTINE, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Officials in Brigantine, New Jersey are trying to balance vacationers who come to party with residents who have to get up for work the next day.
"You'd like, be woken up in the middle of the night and to the music, and the noise, out of a complete sleep," said Louise Groeber of Brigantine.
Residents say big shore homes going up on the 300 and 400 blocks of 20th Street in Brigantine have turned into party homes, disturbing their quality of life.
"If you've seen the movie with John Belushi - Animal House - this is what we're dealing with," said Andrea Sullivan of Brigantine.
The city is trying to step in.
"In 2017 council actually passed a series of ordinances that we call the Animal House ordinance, that actually has short-term rental properties have to be licensed with the city. If they become a nuisance property, in other words, a number of complaints that come in from the community, we're actually able to take that before a judge and pose fines, shut them down for a period of time, or revoke their license so that they can't rent anymore," said Mayor Vince Sera of Brigantine.
Sera said the city is also looking at new construction of large homes that have the potential of turning into short-term rentals. He's also looking into minimum stays for short-term rentals, but no new legislation is out yet.
"This revolving hotel type of trade is not for the residential zones," said Sullivan.
Nearby shore towns like Ventor have recently added minimums on short-term rentals to cut down on party homes.
Brigantine's mayor wants to hear from more residents before new legislation is written.
Brigantine's next city council meeting is July 12 at 5 p.m. at City Hall.
