Stonington ― Residents and property owners voted 694-342 at Monday’s referendum to reject a proposed short term rental ordinance.

Just 7% of the town’s registered voters cast ballots.

“It’s an example of democracy at the local level. It’s messy and complicated, but it’s important. For those who did engage, for the most part, it restored our faith in people‘s ability to have civil discussions on important and complicated topics,” said First Selectwoman Danielle Chesebrough, who had worked on the proposed ordinance for more than year.

The ordinance would have required owners to register their short-term rental property with the town, conform to local safety regulations, provide information for renters on local noise and property use restrictions as well as an explanation of the town’s trash and recycling programs including collection schedule.

Additionally, an owner or agent of the owner would have been required to be available in person, by phone or text within 60 minutes of receiving a request from police, fire, or town official.

Poll worker Chris Rose said the turnout was slow but steady at the former Pawcatuck Middle School on Monday.

One voter, Joe Durning, said he does not operate a short-term rental, but had in the past, and that he is against the ordinance.

“I voted no. I don’t think it’s the town’s business necessarily on private property,” he said.

“I voted against it because we need to keep the community as economically flexible as possible to afford the increase to the middle-class property taxes that are coming with the new valuation and with the mill rate,” added Matt Beaudoin, resident and owner of Mystic Knotworks.

Most of the voters willing to speak about their votes were opposed to the ordinance, Edward Janusz was for it.

“I voted in favor simply because I thought it was a good compromise,” he said, adding, “I thought it was all right all the way around. If everybody’s kind of okay with it, it’s probably a good policy.”

Despite complaints from some residents the Planning and Zoning Commission declined to regulate short term rentals in 2017. Last year, the town decided to seek community input, propose an ordinance and allow residents to vote on the proposal.

An initial draft prompted significant opposition from short term rental owners and some residents in town.

It only allowed short-term rentals at a property owner’s primary residence. If a property owner did not meet the requirement, they would have had one year to move into the home, convert it to a rental of 30 days or more or sell the property. These rules were then removed from the proposed ordinance,

Town Attorney Jeffrey Londregan had previously explained that despite proposed bills and lobbying by interested parties, the state has not passed any regulations regarding short term rentals, and that legal ambiguities create the possibility of litigation and legal challenges to a more stringent ordinance, which would be costly to the town.

The town released a significantly pared down version of the short-term rental ordinance in early February, and the Board of Selectmen voted to send it to referendum after being contacted by residents who were seeking information about collecting signatures to force a referendum.

Additionally, Chesebrough previously said residents had voiced a desire to vote on the proposed ordinance but expressed that the timing and duration of a town meeting and the inability to vote by mail was an obstacle.

Editor’s note: This version clarifies that property owners also voted on the the ordinance.