May 19th, 2025
There are so many important topics to talk about right now that I feel stuck choosing what to focus on. But sure, let’s talk about short-term rentals again, since it’s back up for discussion.
Yes, we should cap the number of permitted short-term vacation rentals.
We live on an island with limited resources, particularly water. That alone creates a natural limit on what our environment can support. If we don’t proactively manage our usage, we risk running out of the most essential resource for life. Nobody wants that. So we need to limit the number of vacation rentals.
We’re also seeing a rise in year-round residents, many of whom now work from home. A walk through Sandpiper, Whaling Station, or Galleon Beach in the winter makes this clear; lights are on, people are home. It’s a wonderful thing for our community, but it also adds pressure on our shared resources. At the same time, it’s understandable that people want to benefit from Hornby’s tradition of renting to visitors to help cover their mortgages.
But in the past, when there were fewer people, less was used. People lived closer to the land, with fewer luxuries. There were more ‘not to code’ homes: hand-built cabins, off-grid solutions, simple dwellings that made minimal demands on infrastructure. This allowed for flexibility and room for exceptions. But now, with a larger population and stricter regulations, that logic no longer applies. What once worked when only a few participated becomes unsustainable when everyone does it. That’s the tragedy of the commons.
Our current reality calls for a new approach, one that balances personal needs with collective responsibility so we don’t destroy the very things that make this island such a desirable place to live.
The trouble is, people used to come here for a rough, rugged, back-to-the-land lifestyle. Hand-built homes, water catchment systems, weekly baths, and gardens watered carefully, plant by plant. That way of life was once the norm. Now, million-dollar architect-designed homes are becoming more common. Regulations meant to ensure safety end up enforcing urban building standards that make community-led, affordable housing projects nearly impossible. No more cob houses, no more slowly built cabins with imperfect corners, no more artistic homes pieced together with salvaged materials.
Times have changed, and we have to change with them. We can mourn the old world, but we don’t get to have it back as it was. And these expensive dream homes are water hogs. Lush gardens filled with non-native flowers, ornamental trees, and thirsty landscaping draw heavily from our limited water supply. I’d love to see regulations that mandate native-only plantings and water-wise buildings. Maybe some already exist, and certainly there are builders and residents working on eco-conscious homes and catchment systems, but it’s not yet the norm. Most people pay lip service to water conservation without fully grasping what it really means.
We can’t dictate how people live in their homes, but we can regulate short-term rentals, which swell the population during the very months when water is scarcest. We can and should impose limits. In fact, it’s common for communities like ours to restrict short-term vacation rentals far more tightly than what’s being proposed here. Hornby has been the exception for a long time, but that can’t continue.
To minimize hardship, I’d like to see a path that allows those who’ve long relied on renting out their homes to continue doing so. But no new ones. That loophole needs to be closed. No more permits for new owners planning to finance homes they can’t afford through rentals that harm our island’s ecosystem.
Is that fair? It’s not about fair. It’s about what’s sustainable for our land, our water, and our future. It’s about recognizing the hard limits imposed by nature, and learning to live within them, together, as a community.
That’s what I think. What do you think? Email me at phoenixonhornby@gmail.com
