After heated debate, the Southold Town board voted 4 to 1 to adopt the controversial transient rental code, with a 14-night minimum.
Councilwoman Jill Doherty voted “no”; Justice Louisa Evans was not present and Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell, and Councilman Jim Dinizio, William Ruland and Bob Ghosio voted for the legislation.
The decision came after the public stood up to plead their positions once again.
After the vote, Russell said, “If we don’t listen to the people, we are accused of being ‘arrogant’ and if we do, we are accused of caving in. It’s a tough position,” he said.
East Marion resident James Spanos. who is renovating a property to open in the resort residential zone, asked how enforcement would be carried out.
Russell said he wanted to “dispel the myth” that the proposed code relies on internet for enforcement. While it does include internet searches as a presumptive measure, in addition, the code would rely on enforcement. A part-time code enforcement officer is on the agenda for hire, he said. Normal fact finding and case building would also ensue, Russell added.
The town’s website will be able to take complaints 24/7, with a hot line also created, Russell said.
Town attorney William Duffy said violators of the code would face up to $5,000 in fines per occurrence.
Spanos said he feared investors would realize the area is a “hot spot” and ultimately “buy up whole neighborhoods.”
The area, he said, needs more hotels, with aging hotels and motels such as the Beachcomber shutting their doors. He suggested the board look to new construction and hotels, that would create jobs and keep younger residents on the North Fork.
Russell agreed: At today’s work session, the board discussed a new land use designation called “country inns”, that could allow for six to eight room inns, possibly with a dining component.
East Marion resident Anne Murray asked when the new legislation would take effect; Russell said he understood reservations have been made and the town board would have the discussion, but 60 days was likely.
Peconic resident Peter Terranova spoke in favor of the 14-day minimum. “It’s better than nothing,” he said, adding that there was a need to “forestall the trend to make Southold Town one big motel.”
An outraged Joseph Marchese said his Sound Avenue home in Peconic is in a row of “Motel 6” type residences, where short term renters and cleaning people come and go.
“This issue is about money,” he said, adding that the problem did not center on seven or 14 days, but about individuals looking to buy up investment properties and control the money. “I don’t are if it’s illegal or illegal. You have to do whatever it takes to protect this town.”
Attorney Salem Katch of Orient said it’s not about money. “You are going to be picking winners and losers, and it’s about anger. It’s about anger and people expressing it against foreigners and people who make noise.”
Judith Ullman and her wife Yehudi Moch said, as they have in the past, that the 14-day provision would effectively shut the door on short-term rentals.
“We’re really unhappy,” Ullman said after the vote, adding that she and her wife were married in Southold and are deeply invested in the town. “This means we’ll undoubtedly have to sell.”
Attorney Abigail Field, who represented a number of second home owners in the short-term rental debate, said a critical issue was the after market, with individuals who could potentially rent a property for two weeks and then sublet, with an owner unable to vet the tenants, who were “strangers.”
After the vote, she said she had no comment yet and needed time to respond.
Spanos asked the board to table the reso and let the matter go to public referendum after a one-year sunset provision.
Another man who rents in Southold stood up to describe the dearth of rental opportunities year-round compared to the growing number of short term rentals on sites such as VRBO and airbnb. “I know a nurse who can’t find a rental in East Marion,” he said. He added that year-round renters may feel they “do not have a voice.”
Councilman Bob Ghosio agreed, saying he believes the need is greater or long-term rentals, to provide homes for employees of local businesses.
Russell said the need for year-round housing weighed heavily in his decision.
Cutchogue’s Benja Schwartz said he was concerned about the environmental impacts of short-term rentals.
Others said short-term renters were breaking Suffolk County law and said the board was in no rush, with the season almost over, and should take time to review actual data or else be forced into a sea of court cases.
In June, a first draft, which said short-term rentals would need to be a minimum of seven nights, was voted down.
At both previous meetings and public hearings, the most recent held earlier this month, residents have turned out in force on both sides of the sharply divided issue, with some crying out to maintain Southold’s quality of life in residential neighborhoods, second home owners stating that the proliferation of sites such as airbnb.com bring a much needed boost to the economy and help them to pay their mortgages, and hotel and B&B owners demanding that short-term rentals be forced to comply with the same fees and regulations.
