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Home My WebLink AboutSTRCommMtgMinutes 5.28.24.pdfPage 1 of 5 Short Term Rental Subcommittee May 28, 2024 Attending: Deputy Supervisor John Stype (Chair) Town Board: Jill Doherty (via Zoom), Anne Smith, Greg Doroski Government Liaison: Gwynn Schroeder Building Dept: none Planning Staff: Heather Lanza, Mara Cerezo Town Attorney: Jack Squicciarini, Ben Johnson Code Enforcement: none Housing Advisory Commission: Cheryle Amara Accept the Minutes from the last meeting Approved. Last Mtg Recap - Understand our current Town Code ● Transient rental definition per Town Code is anything less than 14 days. ● All transient rentals are prohibited throughout the Town. ● Rental permits required for all rentals. See Chapter 207 for details - noting that the chapter does not address transient rentals or rental duration. Review Compilation of Short-Term Rental Codes in Other Places (handout) Walked through the Review document (*See supplemental handout from the meeting and pre- meeting email.) ● Saratoga is a great example for owner occupancy ● Hosted vs unhosted specified ● Fees, inspection related to staff time to conduct those. What is the correct fee. ● Fredericksburg TX website is excellent for permitting ● They have different types of short-term rentals ● How do these affect bed & breakfast, hotels, etc.? Definitions? ● Charlevoix has the mixed approach - different tiers “business” vs. “personal units” ● Only one building on a property can be used. ● Neighbor notification ● Visitor guide (from Michigan) ● Unlimited if owner present on site, limited to a number if owner not living on site. ● Chatham NY has some farm distinction - allowing different options for farms than non- farm ● Shelter Island affirmed ADU’s have to be year-round rentals Page 2 of 5 ● Greenport is looking to ban any rentals less than 30 days entirely ● Riverhead bans rentals that are 29 days or less Review Draft Options for Town Board (handout) Walked through the Options table document ➔ Option 1 : Leave short term rental (transient rental) defined as < 14 days Pros: ● No code changes needed Cons: ● Allows business model to continue for short-term rentals (14-29 days), basically unregulated ● Continues the commercialization of homes in neighborhoods. ● Continues to keep homes out of the year-round or for-sale market. ● Continues to be a challenge for code enforcement Notes: ● Not really a good option because the cons outweigh the pros ● Could do some code changes to make it better ➔ Option 2: Do not allow any short-term rentals (<30 days). Ban them entirely. Pros: ● Lessens the commercialization of homes in neighborhoods ● May open up housing stock for sale or year-round rental ● May be more incentive for homeowners to add an ADU ● Still allows homeowners to rent seasonally (30 days or more) ● May be less onerous to enact necessary code changes than for other options ● May make enforcement easier ● Keeps rental permit process simple Cons: ● Would not allow homeowners the opportunity for earning additional income by renting their primary residence on a short-term basis ● Limits who would be able to afford vacation rentals of homes here ● Impact to the tourist economy if “regular people” have less places to stay ● May continue the commercialization of neighborhoods if LLC’s pivot to seasonal rentals only. Notes: ● Banned shares (sub-letting the 30-day rental) like Southampton Page 3 of 5 ● Lots of pieces have to be added to make this work ➔ Option 3: Limit the ability to have a short-term rental to owner-occupied homes where it is their primary residence Pros: ● Allows homeowners to supplement income on a short-term basis ● Owners have a greater stake in ensuring renters abide by the code and their property is well maintained ● Removes the commercialization of homes in neighborhoods ● May open up housing stock for sale or year-round rental ● May be less onerous to enact necessary code changes than for other options ● Greater probability of $ generated staying here ● Supports the local tourist economy by providing more places to stay Cons: ● May remove the incentive for homeowners to add an ADU Notes: ● Have to find the balance between ADU incentive for workforce housing, ● Most complaints are people renting out entire house ● on-site manager idea - the homeowner or property manager ● If the homeowner is there, they do the job of monitoring ● 30-day lease may be required from the owner, ticket the renter and owner ● Workforce housing: problem is a company will rent a house out for 30 days, and then they sublet to other people every weekend. ● Subletting has to be banned and enforced ● Enforcement is simpler if primary residence only. Easier to track the owner. ● Quality of life ● Employers can’t find employees ● Having an elevated fee could help. ● Limiting the total number of calendar days ( ● Less-so limiting the total number town-wide (item 4.) ➔ Option 4: Limit the number of short-term rentals town-wide a. Number per hamlet or neighborhood, b. By zoning district – allow in some and not others – commercial use = commercial zones Pros: ● Allows some of the business model STR’s to continue ● May expand (as compared to banning them) who can afford to vacation here ● May return some homes to the year-round rental or for-sale market Page 4 of 5 Cons: ● May not remove the commercialization of homes in neighborhoods ● May not result in returning homes to the market for purchase or year-round rental ● Complicates rental permit management & enforcement. ● May not benefit homeowners who rent out their primary residence. ● Difficult to determine the right number to allow ● How to fairly allocate Notes: ● Can this be combined with the owner-occupied option? - complicated code. ● Keep the number very small ● Maybe by zoning and max number ● Somehow hold the platform responsible? Westchester tried to bring an injunction against Airbnb. Their resources are huge and they will likely win against the Town. ● Code enforcement and Building Department - we need systems, ● New column in this - to state what the steps are we have to do. Add things like code enforcement. ● Maybe a lottery for the limited number of short-term rental permits. Base it on number of units in the hamlets. ● Maybe changing to primary residence will limit the number organically. ● Or have the number of days you can rent in a year (say for 30 days, or 60 days or 120 days) as the limit and find that economic balance so you don’t eradicate accessory apartment incentive. ● Colorado does do some sort of lottery system (Steamboat Spring) ➔ Option 5: Limit the number of short-term rental units to one per natural person Pros: ● Similar to limiting total number in Option 4 above. Cons: ● Similar to limiting total number in Option 4 above. Notes: ● This one applies to all, just one per person ● We need to add some standard things like this to the options. ● Another column of things to think about for each ➔ Option 6: A combination of approaches listed above Example – limit the non-owner-occupied to certain zoning districts, but allow those who are renting their primary residence to do so in any zoning district. (Cons: might be too complicated) Page 5 of 5 General Discussion on Options: ● Primary residence: Everyone agrees this is a good way to go ● One short term rental per person. ● Would need some language to address an LLC owning it - but there is one person in the LLC that has it as its primary residence. How to handle trusts and such. ● Limit the number of days per year they can rent ● Minimum number of days the person lives there per year (maybe allow some subletting with a lease allowed). ● number of people per bedroom? Details - should we limit the occupancy? Different communities did this in different ways. Parking, number of bedrooms, floor plans in the application, look at other places. ● All scenarios (including status quo) require more personnel and improved systems for permitting and enforcement. Closing Thoughts: ● Board can adopt one set of regulations and try it for a year and change if it isn’t working ● Consider how to organize the code so it is easy for people to follow it - Chapter 280, Chapter 207 (should 207 go into 280?). ● Add Chapter 280 rules to the rental permit application and affidavit (i.e. restrictions on requiring a family member or a tenant from the Housing Registry, prohibition of transient rentals, etc.) ● Add to the Town website all the rules about rentals and short-term rentals so people can find out what the rules are now and how they apply to them/their property. ● Submit a lease with any rental application. ● Presentation to the Town Board will include all of what this committee has done. ● Town Board wants a specific recommendation on what STR regulation to consider. Next Steps: ● Heather, Gwynn, Mara - come up with the list of options within Option 3 to help facilitate next discussion. Include other places that use the model. ● Meet with Mike Verity to catch him up on committee progress and see what he thinks are the key issues. ● Planning & Town Atty (Jack & Ben) talk through some other options issues. Reminder of future meeting dates: ● Next meeting on June 25th @ 9am. ○ Plan to drill down on Option 3 and go through different considerations for draft regulations ○ Review and suggest ways to ensure regulations address the committee’s guiding principles (i.e. maximum occupancy, good neighbor guide, parking, septic infrastructure, notification of neighboring property owners, etc.)