Just days after Southold Town passed new legislation on the controversial short-term rental issue, setting a 14-day minimum, Greenport residents gathered for an informal discussion this morning on how the hot-button topic impacts their lives.
They came from all corners of the community — long-time single family homeowners, airbnb hosts and second home owners, hotel owners and concerned citizens — to share their strong feelings on a subject that’s garnered widespread attention nationally and worldwide.
But in the end, despite their divergent opinions, all agreed that no solution will work without enforcement, and the current Greenport Village rental code could be tweaked and expanded to cover transient rentals.
The two-hour discussion was convened informally by Greenport Village Trustee Doug Roberts and held at The Loft on Front Street.
Roberts began by explaining that currently, the village has a rental code in place for rentals over 29 days; seasonal rentals were left out of the code, which was designed to address issues including substandard apartments and other quality of life issues that stemmed from year round rentals.
Although the code was adopted two years ago, it’s still not fully rolled out, with quadrants still not having received letters and, of those who have, many are not in compliance, he said.
Robert also mentioned that the village’s bed and breakfast code has been under review, with the planning board recommending that Greenport mirror Southold’s code and allow for five bedrooms as long as a B&B meets space and parking requirements.
Over and over, residents from various parts of Greenport echoed the same sentiment: No matter what the law says, there is no enforcement. They detailed ten mattresses in a home, with nine bags of garbage set up outside on trash day, along with a sea of cars in driveways.
Ian Wile said he decided to switch from offering year-round rentals to short-term rentals when got tired of calling the police on the “drug dealer” who lived in his home and would rather offer his residence “to a quiet couple from Brooklyn.”
“Enforcement is an issue,” Greg Tack said.
All agreed that beefed up code enforcement, with additional staff and increased fines, to help pay for that staffing increase, would help.
“It’s virtually impossible for one person,” a resident said, adding that the number of days in a short-term rental policy matters little. “It’s a matter of enforcement.”
Roberts had asked, in an email, residents to think about how they hoped to see the village take shape over the next decades.
Dina Zemsky said Greenport is being gentrified, and it’s not a situation unique to the village. “I think it’s a little naive, to think we’re going to stay this pristine, little-known place, when you think about trends in travel and how people live.”
The world has changed in 20 years, Zemsky added. “Twenty years ago, no one shopped online.” Today, she said, airbnb and other sites, blogs, and travel magazines are successful because of the way people travel; she predicted other hotels will want to open on the North Fork.
Zemsky, who lives in one home in Greenport with her husband and rents another, added. “This is going to happen and to think it’s not is naive. If you put a terrible limit on it, people won’t come or they’ll just do it, anyway. People don’t follow the permit process. If they aren’t going to follow permits for horrendous toxic waste problems, it’s naive to think they won’t rent a house for three days instead of 14.”
Tack agreed, stating that the village was within a two-hour drive on New York City, with 30 million, and has followed a similar path to other waterfront communities, including Sag Harbor.
Some said it was critical to maintain year-round housing to maintain the infrastructure of the village, the schools, the EMTs, the staff at local eateries and businesses.
“I don’t want to see this as a village for elite people,” Theresa Taylor said.
Some second home owners said they are deeply vested in the village and care for their properties. “Everybody’s not the same; I think I serve a need also,” one woman said, who said those renting their properties on airbnb are serving a need for families of five who can’t afford to rent two hotel rooms at exorbitant prices.
Others said there have been just as many quality of life issues with year-round home owners and tenants. Code enforcement is critical, all agreed, in maintaining proper standards.
Zoning board of appeals chair Douglas Moore also attended the meeting. He said while he didn’t want to pretend the change wasn’t happening, “Local government has the responsibility to try and move social change.” He said he couldn’t understand the longtime resistance to apartments on the North Fork; he and his wife lived in an apartment for years.
Penny Rudder said she was concerned about who would attend local high schools. “The infrastructure of this community is the residential base,” she said. “We’re at a crossroads. Who’s going to be at the libraries, the hospitals? We have an aging volunteer core. That’s the golden egg. And that’s what every decision has to be based upon — growing and strengthening our residential base.”
Thomas agreed, stating that year-round businesses need “a good base of people who live here, of every financial level” to shop at IGA. People who live in the village year round, she said, support CAST and the Opp Shop. “They do all the things people who are here for three minutes or three days are not going to do.”
Landlords agreed they’d be willing to pay higher rental permit fees to be able to hire additional code enforcement officers. Moore agreed a higher fee schedule might be set.
Bob Feger said code enforcement was the single most important issue of the discussion.
“Having a law on the books with no enforcement is silly,” one resident said.
Roberts said perhaps the board could address the short-term rental issue first and then take another look at the LWRP.
The takeaway of today’s meeting, he said, is that all present would agree to pay higher fees with an eye toward hiring additional code enforcement as well as legal backup. “It starts with enforcement of existing regulations. If we got $175,000 in the kitty from rental permit fees, that could support it.”
Next, he said, the group agreed the current rental law could be tweaked and revised to include short-term rentals.
Those in attendance thanked Roberts for calling the meeting. “It’s a start,” one woman said.
