Lanesborough Select Board Sets $50 Short-Term Rental Fee, Elects New Leaders

LANESBOROUGH -- June 22, 2026, Lanesborough's newly expanded Select Board reorganized, set a $50 short-term rental fee, and endorsed a decade-long open space plan at its June 22 meeting. Deborah Maynard was re-elected chair on a 4-0-1 vote, and Julie Baker was elected vice chair unanimously, filling leadership roles created by the board's expansion from three to five members with the additions of Baker and Jeff Walter. The board voted unanimously to set a $50 annual, non-prorated registration fee for short-term rentals under bylaws passed at annual town meeting, and unanimously required that owner contact and emergency information be posted on both the interior and exterior of all short-term rental properties. Town Administrator Gina presented a draft one-page registration process routing applicants through the state's PermitEyes inspection system before annual town registration; she noted the fee sits in the middle of a $25-to-$150 range seen in comparable communities. The board also unanimously approved a Select Board letter of support for a draft Open Space and Recreation Plan built over roughly 10 months by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, drawing on 287 survey respondents, 15 maps, and an 84-page Williams College student field report, a document that, once state-approved, would make Lanesborough eligible for park-improvement and land-acquisition grant programs unavailable since its previous plan expired in 2006.