I am responding to an article in the June 12 Marco Eagle, regarding the proposed ordinance regulating short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods. It appears this same argument has been ongoing since my wife and I first visited Marco in 1987.

Marco Island is truly a gem, rivaling some of the most beautiful vacation destinations in the world. This has always been my opinion and of course no one wants to spoil this, but the more we attempt to control and regulate vacation rentals the more we negatively impact growth and prosperity. Marco Island should be booming, but it’s not. Marco Island should be the talk of the town across America, but it’s not. The reason for Marco’s languishing real estate market is based on the attitude of its people.

As beautiful as Marco is we seem to want to guard it from the outside world by attempting to strictly regulate its use, but at the same time we expect to realize steadily increasing property values. This thinking is at best paradoxical, because as we continue to draft ordinances limiting the use of Marco we also continue to limit the perceived values of its real estate. The idea of 30-day minimum rental terms is preposterous. I understand as a property owner, not wanting boisterous and rude vacationers in our backyards, but that’s another issue, one to be addressed by property management and if need be, by law enforcement.

Many people I know have purchased property on Marco as second homes, with the dreams of one day living on Marco for half the year. In the meantime however, their plan, like ours, has been to rent out our properties enough to defray at least some property expenses while we’re living elsewhere. It doesn’t seem like a bad plan, but it definitely is a flawed plan, in that based on our current rental regulations and ordinances, rentals are generally difficult to come by.

I had previously thought, we could have compromised and allowed only one rental in a 30-day period of an undetermined rental duration, so that renters could stay for a day, or up to a month, whereby we could satisfy having only one rental per month, but also satisfy renters requests to stay for a lesser term than 30 days.

Think back to when you were working full-time and recall if you ever had 30 days off at a time. Most of us didn’t and most of us still don’t. From the start, I believed the 30-day minimum caused more problems for the island economically than it solved. I was appalled to find that slums in many cities across America were commanding higher monthly rents than we were getting in paradise on the Gulf of Mexico. I am pleased to hear that new regulations are finally coming, regulations that will help Marco fulfill its true destiny as a hot spot for vacationers without spoiling its natural beauty. Marco Island real estate has languished long enough! Stop the rapid turnover of properties due to owners being unable to maintain their diminishing assets, by allowing owners to offset property expenses with rental income!

Thank you.

Lance McCormack

East Greenwich, Rhode Island

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