Smithfield’s Planning Commission has recommended approval of what would be the historic district’s fifth year-round short-term rental.

Smithfield changed its zoning ordinance in 2020 to allow homeowners the option of leasing their residences as short-term rentals through booking services like Airbnb and Vrbo, provided the homeowner obtains a town business license and signs a short-term rental affidavit. The ordinance allows “by right” use as a short-term rental for up to 104 nights per calendar year, and requires a special use permit for anything beyond that.

Former Town Councilman Jim Collins is the latest to apply for such a permit. The property in question is 328 Main St. Collins said he currently rents the property as a long-term rental, which the town defines as 30 days or more, and is looking to offer short-term rentals.

The property is adjacent to the circa-1903 Johnson house at 330 Main St., which is under conversion to operate as Feathered Elegance Boutique & Tea Room, in which Collins’ wife is a partner.

Smithfield’s Town Council, which will have the final say on the requested permit, has approved three such permits for full-time short term rentals to date, all in the downtown area. A fourth operating on Mason Street was already operating and grandfathered as of the 2020 change.

The Planning Commission previously voted 4-2 in December to recommend denial of an after-the-fact permit to operate the circa-1946 house at 104 Jordan Drive, which is outside the historic district, as a year-round short-term rental.

Tim Ryan, who’d made the application for 104 Jordan Drive, said he withdrew it before it reached the Town Council after receiving the Planning Commission’s less than favorable reaction and fearing he’d face “the same misinformation issue” about its water connection. 

Ryan has been embroiled in a seven-month dispute with town government over its requiring him to connect the circa-1929 former gas station that now operates as Red Point Taphouse to town water. Red Point and 104 Jordan Drive are each currently connected to a private well that predates the town’s annexation of the area. Town staff advised last year that the conversion of the former gas station into a brewery and the then-proposed conversion of 104 Jordan Drive into a short-term rental would require both properties to hook to town water, an assertion Ryan disputes.

The Town Council voted 4-3 on April 1 against granting Red Point Taphouse’s request for a special use permit that would have waived the brewery’s required connection. Ryan and Red Point’s former co-owners, Derek Joyner and Nick Hess, sold the brewery to Ben and Elen Osmanson in January, and the trio say they plan to sell the building to cover the estimated $30,000 cost of hooking to town water.