HOWLAND — While township officials expressed appreciation for improvements in a substitute bill that required lodging taxes, they also noted several community concerns as reasons for opposing a piece of legislation.

Trustees approved the signing and transmission of a letter of opposition to state officials regarding House Bill 109, which establishes standards for on-site parking, trash receptacles and occupancy limits for short-term rentals.

Trustee Frank Dillon said he has spoken with residents about short-term rentals, noting that one mentioned an Airbnb next door to them that has new people coming in and out every week.

“Different cars coming in and out, things going on inside and outside, and I mean, when you’re trying to raise your family in a neighborhood,” Dillon said. “Every week your neighbors change, and you don’t have any idea who they are or where they come from, and what they intend to do while they’re there — It doesn’t make for a stable environment.”

Dillon said short-term rentals like Airbnbs get rented out and the renters have parties — and some bring destruction.

“We’re just trying to avoid that; we’re trying to keep stability, and the state is hellbent on limiting what we have to say about it — and it’s not right,” Dillon said.

Trustee James LaPolla said Airbnbs don’t pay bed tax, which trustee Matthew Vansuch said state officials incorporated into HB 109 as the “carrot” to get local governments to support it.

“While that may be appreciated, it doesn’t solve a lot of the problems,” Vansuch said. “We appreciate some parts of that, but in all honesty, I’d rather give that up to maintain the local control over it because it’s that important.”

Vansuch said officials appreciated being heard on some issues, such as a fee being increased from $25 to $250, but they weren’t the only entities opposing the bill, noting several other unnamed entities.

Vansuch said they were trying to preserve the township’s neighborhoods and their “residential character.”

“You just never know what happens at the end of the year and so we want to make sure that our voice was heard,” Vansuch said. “And we may not have the time, because sometimes these things go, and they go very quickly.”