WILDWOOD CREST – The Board of Commissioners is planning to look at ways to stifle noise coming from rental properties.

The agenda for the Wednesday, Aug. 7, commissioners meeting listed “Frat Houses” under discussion of new business. The term was being used to describe so-called “animal houses” or, as Police Chief Robert Lloyd called them, “rowdy houses.”

Mayor Don Cabrera said the borough would be looking at rental and occupancy issues related to noisy renters and the availability of housing for the workforce, including international student workers. Cabrera said as more people are packed into rental units, with or without the landlord’s knowledge, there are more vehicles being parked on the streets. Resident Claire Vernaleken, speaking during the public comment period, said a number of these cars are being parked illegally. Cabrera said the abundance of cars is creating safety and security issues.

Cabrera said there were also concerns about rooms being rented to students working on J-1 visas, saying they are being crowded into rooms, sometimes with no air conditioning, with landlords “price-gouging” on the rents.

“We don’t want people taking advantage of foreign workers,” he said.

Cabrea said he would be looking for input from his fellow commissioners, code officials, police and fire officials, and others. Vernaleken, herself a property manager, highlighted the problems she was facing as the neighbor of a rental property. Vernaleken said she was thrilled the commissioners heard her complaints on the matter, adding that the borough already has an ordinance on over-occupancy.

“You will get together to create a new ordinance, but you have to be able to enforce it,” she told the commissioners.

Besides illegally parked vehicles, Vernaleken said she has been subjected to 2 a.m. after-prom check-ins, saying while the property owner is sleeping in his home two hours away, she is being kept awake by his renters.

Lloyd said one thing the police cannot regulate is the number of cars being brought into Wildwood Crest, but the police can and are constantly on the lookout for illegally parked vehicles. He said it is more difficult to enforce occupancy violations. He said here is an expectation of privacy under the Constitution, meaning they cannot simply go in a rental unit and count heads. He said, however, his department would work with the governing body to come up with solutions to the problems being discussed.

Vernaleken said she believes something has to be done to come down on property owners who rent to large groups of young people. Lloyd said the police will continue to document violations on rental properties and issue citations, but he has not seen a problem that rises to the level of rowdy house violations.

Wildwood Crest’s municipal code already prohibits individuals from behaving in a noisy, boisterous manner, but in the early 2000s, another town, Sea Isle City, passed ordinances that held property owners responsible for the noise created by renters. The regulations also allowed for the creation of “noise free zones” based on the history of “repeated or continuous noise violations occurring in the area” of that city. Sea Isle City Council passed ordinances crating a special enforcement area with clearly marked boundaries, where the penalties for noise violations are doubled. Penalties could be imposed upon each violation, and could include community service.

In Sea Isle, three convictions in a 24-month period on complaints of “disorderly, indecent, tumultuous or riotous conduct or offenses upon or in proximity to any rental premises, and attributable to the acts or incitements of any of the tenants of those premises” would subject the property owner to a hearing by the administrator as hearing officer to suspend or revoke a rental permit. A landlord would be ordered by the hearing officer to post a bond, which could range from $500 to $5,000. The bond could be used to make reparations for damages caused to public or private property, including damages resulting from disruption of affected residents’ rights of fair use and quiet possession of their premises; for securing the payment of fines and penalties; and for compensating the municipality for the cost of repressing and prosecuting such incidents of disorderly behavior.

Sea Isle City Police Chief Anthony Garreffi said the ordinances have worked well to curb noisy houses.

“I do have to say it’s been several years since we needed to enforce it and have a hearing,” he said. “Noise from rental properties has not been an issue the last two summers I’ve been chief.”

Cabrera said Wildwood Crest does have a local noise ordinance, but the commissioners would also look at ordinances like those enacted in Sea Isle City. Cabrera said the borough can address noise that is excessive saying that means noise that would offend a sensible person during normal hours. Cabrera said Vernaleken’s situation is rather unique for Wildwood Crest. Lloyd said in the meeting that the violations, while annoying, did not rise to the level of a rowdy house.

Capt. Richard D’Amico said the borough also has a municipal services ordinance that can be used if the police are called out for multiple violations. He said the owner of a property can be liable for complaints related to alcohol, noise and disturbing the peace.

On the other hand, he said, the Wildwood Crest police can handle multiple noise complaints, but it might not rise to the level of using excessive municipal recourses.

Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.