When Duane Watlington first launched VRLBI, an independently owned and operated vacation rental listing website targeting Long Beach Island in 2016, he didn’t realize it would bring an unintended benefit to the communities it serves: a feeling of safety.

That feeling is the byproduct of connecting homeowners with potential renters, he told the Ship Bottom Borough Council last week as he addressed its members on the importance of VRLBI rental signs being seen following some of those signs being…