If social media posts are any indicator, some Islanders misunderstood one of the Town Board’s recent changes to its vacation rental regulations.
At Tuesday’s Town Board meeting, Attorney Stephen F. Kiely clarified that the change applies to accessory apartments at owner-occupied residences. These units are permitted under a zoning code section that specifies they must be used for year-round housing.
However, when the Town Board enacted short-term rental regulations a few years back, it essentially overrode that requirement, creating a loophole that allowed vacation rentals of these accessory units. As a result of the Town Board’s May 16 amendment, these units are no longer eligible for short-term rental licenses.
Instead, they can be offered only for rent year-round, as originally contemplated in the zoning code.
However, Kiely said, owners of such units could still offer rooms within their homes for short-term rentals (under a provision that allows for up to two boarders) or provide the main house for short-term rental, assuming it meets all other criteria for a rental license.
And, of course, the accessory units at owner-occupied residences could be offered for family, other guests, or domestic staff to stay at no charge.
In addition, Islanders who qualify for hardship exemptions could still provide short-term rental of accessory units on owner-occupied premises, but they must apply for permission.
Other changes adopted by the board improved safety for tenants and homeowners and were enacted in response to the deaths of two young women at a home their family rented in Noyack. These safety measures apply to all vacation rentals and garnered no objections.
At Tuesday’s work session, the Town Board also heard from a group of Menantic Creek homeowners who want to help assess the health of the creek and work with the Town to improve water quality. Follow this link for coverage of that and other issues discussed at the work session.
Correcting a flaw
Kiely said the goal of the change for owner-occupied residences was correcting a flaw that put more recent vacation rental regulations in Chapter 105: “Rental of Real Property,” at odds with older zoning code provisions for accessory units.
The zoning provisions are found in Chapter 133-17, “Accessory Apartments,” part of the Specific Use Regulations. With a permit, they allow accessory units for year-round rentals in A, AA, B, and C zones. Read the requirements at ecode360.com/7732421.
The Town’s Community Housing Plan, adopted earlier this year, noted the mismatch between what the Town Board sought when amending the zoning code to permit accessory apartments and what it more recently did in the administrative code when enacting short-term rental regulations.
One looked-for result of the Town Board’s May 16 amendment is more accessory apartments being offered as year-round housing either at market rates or as affordable housing, Kiely said.
Near Shore and Peninsular Overlay
Kiely said some social media comments seemed to conflate the recently approved change with another idea discussed by the Community Housing Board (CHB) that still needs to be considered by the Town Board.
It calls for allowing homeowners, on a case-by-case basis, to create accessory apartments in locations where they’re now prohibited, like the environmentally-sensitive Near Shore and Peninsula Overlay District.
Councilwoman Meg Larsen pointed out that the CHB doesn’t anticipate the Town Board allowing for the blanket development of accessory units in these areas. Instead, it contemplates that individual applications for such apartments might be considered under limited Community Housing licenses to expand affordable year-round options.
