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THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

___________________________

Housing Appeals Board

Case No. 2023-0189

Citation: Appeal of Hoekstra, 2024 N.H. 23

APPEAL OF ELIZABETH HOEKSTRA & a.

(New Hampshire Housing Appeals Board)

Argued: November 29, 2023

Opinion Issued: May 14, 2024

 Schuster, Buttrey & Wing, P.A., of Lebanon (Barry C. Schuster on the 

brief and orally), for the petitioners.

 Cordell A. Johnston, of Henniker, on the brief and orally for the 

respondent.

PER CURIAM.

[¶1] The petitioners, Elizabeth Hoekstra and Peter Hoekstra, appeal an 

order of the Housing Appeals Board (HAB) upholding a decision of the Zoning 

Board of Adjustment (ZBA) for the respondent, the Town of Sunapee (Town), 

that the petitioners’ rental of their travel trailer for short-term occupancy is not 

permitted under the Town’s zoning ordinance. We reverse and remand.
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I. Background

[¶2] The following facts are supported by the record. The petitioners own 

property in the Village Residential District in the Town. The property includes 

a single-family dwelling unit that the petitioners use as their primary 

residence. The petitioners also keep a travel trailer on the property that they 

use as a short-term rental.

[¶3] In June 2023, the Town’s zoning administrator notified the 

petitioners that their use of the trailer for short-term rentals was prohibited 

under section 4.20 of the zoning ordinance, which states that “[a]ny use not 

specifically permitted is prohibited.” The petitioners appealed that 

determination to the ZBA, which upheld the zoning administrator’s decision. 

The ZBA thereafter denied the petitioners’ request for rehearing, ruling that the 

zoning ordinance does not permit the use of travel trailers as rentals “for 

transient occupancies.” Following a hearing, the HAB affirmed the ZBA’s 

decision. The HAB denied the petitioners’ motion for reconsideration. This 

appeal followed. 

II. Analysis

[¶4] The petitioners argue that the “express language of the Town of 

Sunapee Zoning Ordinance permits travel trailers to be used for temporary 

sleeping quarters for ‘not more than 90 days per 12-month period.’” According 

to the petitioners, “[a]s a use permitted in all of the Town’s zoning districts, the 

travel trailer on [their] home property is subject to and complies with the 

additional requirements set forth in Section 3.40 of the” ordinance. The 

petitioners assert that the HAB’s decision to the contrary was “unreasonable 

and incorrect as a matter of law.”

[¶5] Our review of the HAB’s decision is governed by RSA chapter 541. 

Appeal of Town of Amherst, 175 N.H. 575, 577 (2023). We will not set aside 

the HAB’s order “except for errors of law, unless [we are] satisfied, by a clear 

preponderance of the evidence before [us], that such order is unjust or 

unreasonable.” RSA 541:13 (2021).

[¶6] The interpretation of a zoning ordinance is a question of law, which 

we review de novo. Town of Lincoln v. Chenard, 174 N.H. 762, 765 (2022). We 

use the traditional rules of statutory construction when interpreting zoning 

ordinances. Working Stiff Partners v. City of Portsmouth, 172 N.H. 611, 615 

(2019). “We construe the words and phrases of an ordinance according to the 

common and approved usage of the language.” Id. at 615-16. When the 

language of an ordinance is plain and unambiguous, we need not look beyond 

the ordinance itself for further indications of legislative intent. Id. at 616.
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[¶7] The ordinance states that “[w]henever a use is permitted by right or 

special exception in any district, it may be used in conjunction with any other 

permitted or special exception use in that district.” Sunapee Zoning Ordinance

sec. 4.10 (Ordinance). Pursuant to section 4.20, “[a]ny use not specifically 

permitted is prohibited.” Ordinance sec. 4.20. “Permitted use” is defined as 

“[a] use that is allowable in the District as a matter of right under the terms of 

the ordinance.” Ordinance art. XI.

[¶8] Article III of the ordinance includes “Additional Requirements” that 

apply to all districts in the Town. (Capitalization and bolding omitted.) Section 

3.40 provides:

 (m) Travel Trailers, which include, but are not limited to, camper

trailers, motor homes, recreational vehicles, tent trailers and truck 

campers, are permitted subject to the following restrictions:

1) The owner of a travel trailer may store up to two (2) 

such trailers on his/her property in as inconspicuous 

a location as possible;

2) A travel trailer may be used for temporary sleeping 

quarters for not more than 90 days per 12-month 

period unless a Certificate of Compliance is issued. 

Sewage disposal must be in compliance with New 

Hampshire Water Supply and Pollution Control 

regulations or approved by the Sunapee Water and 

Sewer Department if on municipal sewer;

3) All travel trailers used for temporary sleeping quarters 

must be in compliance with all other provisions of this 

ordinance including building setbacks;

4) If three (3) or more travel trailers are to be placed on 

an individual lot and used as sleeping quarters, a Site 

Plan Review approval must be granted by the Planning 

Board.

Ordinance sec. 3.40(m). Under the plain language of section 3.40, a travel 

trailer is permitted and may be used for temporary sleeping quarters for not 

more than ninety days in a twelve-month period so long as it complies with 

State or Town sewage disposal requirements and all other provisions of the 

ordinance including building setbacks. The Town does not dispute that the 

petitioners are in compliance with the restrictions imposed by section 3.40(m). 

[¶9] The Town argues that section 3.40(m) merely “establishes additional 

requirements applicable to uses that are expressly permitted by other sections 

of the Ordinance” but does not create new categories of permitted uses. We 

disagree. By definition, a permitted use is a use that is allowable in a district 

as a matter of right under the ordinance. Ordinance art. XI. Under section 
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3.40, travel trailers are “permitted” as a matter of right for “use[] for temporary 

sleeping quarters” in all districts provided the restrictions set forth are met. 

Ordinance sec. 3.40(m).

[¶10] The Town concedes that the petitioners, “or any other property 

owners with a travel trailer, remain free to sleep in the trailer, or allow a friend, 

family member, or even a stranger to sleep in the trailer, for up to 90 days in a 

12-month period, and they may receive compensation for that temporary use.” 

The Town’s apparent concern is that the petitioners are using their travel 

trailer as a short-term rental, “available to the general public on a daily basis.” 

However, the ordinance expressly permits travel trailers for use as temporary 

sleeping quarters as limited only by section 3.40(m) and we decline to read into 

those limitations the nuance that the Town asserts was intended. See

Blagbrough Family Realty Trust v. A&T Forest Prods., 155 N.H. 29, 42 (2007) 

(we will not guess what the drafters of the ordinance might have intended or 

add words that they did not see fit to include). Moreover, “we decline to 

contemplate any policy considerations regarding the effect of [short-term 

rentals] on the community when our task is to interpret the plain language of 

the Town’s ordinance.” Town of Conway v. Kudrick, 175 N.H. 714, 721 (2023).

[¶11] Accordingly, we conclude that the HAB erred as a matter of law and 

reverse its order upholding the ZBA’s decision that the petitioners’ rental of 

their travel trailer for short-term occupancy is not permitted under the Town’s 

ordinance.

Reversed and remanded.

MACDONALD, C.J., and HANTZ MARCONI and DONOVAN, JJ., 

concurred.