A public hearing on one of the most hotly debated topics’ in Southold Town will be held tomorrow, as residents speak out on a new draft of the short-term rental code that would impose a limitation of no less than 14 nights.
‘The public hearing on the new draft will be held at tomorrow night’s town board meeting at 7:30 p.m.
For months, the issue has sharply residents, with some crying out for shorter minimums and others saying at least 14 nights or longer will help preserve quality of life in residential neighborhoods.
Some residents were seen out this weekend, hanging flyers in support of a less-restrictive minimum number of nights.
In a letter to SoutholdLOCAL this week, Town Councilman Jim Dinizio explained why he believes airbnb.com and other short-term rental operations are not legal in town. “The building inspector would refer to our code and find that there is no specific code or definition that says that a person can rent their house out on the daily basis. In the world of code enforcement if the intended use of your property is not specifically mentioned in the code it is not allowed. I underline use because zoning is all about how you can use your property. For example, you can plant an apple tree on your residential property, however, if you plant an orchard and start holding apple picking events and cider making seminars then the town has the duty to regulate that use of your residentially zoned property.”
Meanwhile, Cutchogue attorney Abigail Field believes that rental permit process is the key to solving any quality of life issues and said area businesses will suffer with the 14-night minimum.
“Overall, the law is largely intact as originally proposed with only some minor changes to provide clarity. The obvious significant change is the change from a required seven-night minimum to a 14-night minimum,” Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said recently.
“Some on the board believed that the originally proposed seven-night minimum didn’t adequately address the challenge that these operations presented to the town. A seven-night minimum would have still left a ‘turnover’ of new guests every weekend. The turnover rate is one of the essential components not only of the business model but of community complaints as well. Reducing the turnover rate reduces the impact these operations will have on all of the concerns that were raised.”
Dinizio has also said that enforcement is key: “I think before we start making new laws we should actively enforce the laws we have on the books already. The current proposed law would have given our code enforcer the tools to do that. But it seems that we will likely pass a 14-day law and only enforce it on a complaint driven basis. Isn’t that how we got 300 of these things on our town in the first place?”
Councilwoman Jill Doherty agreed and said she liked the initially proposed seven-night minimum. “We need to hire more code enforcement. I don’t want to approve any new code with out giving it support to be able to work.”
Councilman Bob Ghosio said in his opinion, the 14 days minimum is the best option at this point to help mitigate what has become a growing problem in town.
“I have always maintained that when people look for a home in a residential zone, they do so with a realistic expectation of being in a ‘neighborhood’ —that is, with other full-time, or at least long-term, neighbors. It is a security we all appreciate and is certainly a large part of the value of living in a residential atmosphere as opposed to living in a more commercial area where transient rentals are more consistent to the zone.”
Enforcement is critical, Ghosio agreed.
In late June, after months of discussion and a sharply divided public, the Southold Town board voted down draft short term rental legislation.
The draft legislation read that short term rentals could be no less than seven nights.
“I think we can do better with legislation to address the problem,” Russell said.
After a marathon public hearing on the short-term rental issue, those for and against sites such as airbnb.com weighed in.
