Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The Sept. 19 meeting of the Gloucester Board of Supervisors on Short Term Rentals opened with a briefing from Planning and Zoning covering status of rentals in the county. The briefing covered the positive economic impact of STRs. Downsides concerned the increased workload to county staff employees if STRs were regulated. No mention of negative impacts to the citizens of the county.

The BOS spent the majority of time discussing the Transient Occupancy Tax, how much was collected and how to collect more. Ken Gibson was the only member who mentioned concerns about the impact on the residents of the county. Part of the lack of empathy for residents by other BOS members may be because staff reported few complaints relating to STRs and several board members reporting receiving none.

Upon retirement, we made Harcum our permanent home. We felt the SF-1 District Zoning codes for our subdivision, that “limited uses to detached single-family dwellings providing...