For many years, crowds of high school students took to the beach towns for their post prom festivities. Many feel this tradition has been escalating in recent years with incidents of violence, thiefs, and discarded paraphernalia all over the towns. The mayor of Seaside Heights, Anthony Vaz, has decided this behavior is not acceptable and has implemented a new law to stop the mayhem.
On July 19, 2023, the town council of Seaside Heights passed an ordinance that altered the minimum age of short term vacation rentals from 18 to 21 during the months of April through June. This decision attempts to target the issues that start from many high school students renting motels and Airbnbs in large groups during the prom season.
This decision by the town government faced recent backlash though, now that students are back in school and aware of the ordinance. Some rental homeowners and motel owners have hired lawyers and accused the town of discrimination as they are targeting younger renters. These rental and motel owners are worried about the financial impact of the new ordinance.
On the other hand, many property owners have said they are in favor of this new ordinance. Many local homeowners support the ordinance, as these motels, which when not in frequent use during the nonprom weekends, tend to serve as homeless shelters and are hotbeds for drugs. The revenue generated from those particular weekends are where many of the motels generate most of their income, so with this weekend taken away, they may be forced to revitalize or sell their motel.
Seaside Heights is at the center of this debate about the concern for safety of teens, the concern of rental owners and local businesses losing revenue, and the concern of homes losing their value. This hot topic can have an exponential impact on the future of post prom activities of many high school students and the town of Seaside itself.