Short-term rental compromise draws fire at board meeting
After four and a half months of exploring the subject of short-term rentals, the Town Board is still edging toward a resolution that would allow a maximum of eight such rentals per year with six of those limited to seven or fewer days each.
About a dozen residents were on hand at Tuesday’s work session to express concerns about the decision that would apply limits to a full year, not just the summer months as had been initially considered. Some worried that property owners would use up their maximum yearly allotment during the summer months and there would be no place for visitors coming for a weekend in the fall or spring.
There was also an airing of concerns about how short-term rentals would affect the hotel and B&B industry on the Island.
“I’m not looking to save the [rear ends} of the hotel industry,” Councilman Paul Shepherd said. His interest, he added, is keeping residential neighborhoods from becoming commercial.
“What we’ve just done here is a compromise,” Councilman Jim Colligan said about draft legislation inching toward completion for a public hearing.
Before any resolution can be passed, the board still has work to do on penalties for violations. “We’re trying to deal with it without being heavy handed,” Councilwoman Chris Lewis said. She asked Town Attorney Laury Dowd to look into penalties applied in nearby Southold where no short-term rentals of fewer than 14 days are allowed.
COMMUNITY HOUSING
The other hot housing issue is the turndown of an affordable housing proposal to build a two unit structure at North Ferry and Hedges roads. The official vote is slated for Wednesday, November 9, as a resolution rejecting the project is finalized.
Nothing has changed about the decision reached last month that the proposal was considered too large for the lot size, Ms. Lewis told residents who live near the proposed site. Neighbors have indicated that project sponsor Janalyn Travis-Messer has given them a one month deadline to purchase the lot or see a large house that would be within code built on the land.
SITE PLAN REVIEW
The Planning Board, resisting consideration of providing full site plan reviews for commercial properties will have a few months to consider its stance.
Ms. Lewis told Planning Board Chairman Paul Mobius she wants his board’s suggestions about site planning by March 1, 2017.
Mr. Mobius said his board considers the suggestion for site plan review “a little onerous” and “my own feeling is, I don’t think we need it.”
He said his board typically addresses various issues like lighting, noise, placement of trash receptacles and other concerns in informal talks with developers.
Ms. Dowd said she thinks site planning can encourage a dialogue with applicants that can improve projects.
Pushed gently by Mr. Shepherd on the site plan issue, Mr. Mobius said he and his members would work with their attorney, Anthony Pasca, to see if they can come up with something that might work.
HIGHWAY REPAVING
“Show me the money.”
That’s what Highway Superintendent Jay Card Jr. asked the Town Board about grant money that has been sent to the town, but not landed in the account he needs to replenish to schedule road repaving work.
“It’s like a vacuum. It goes away and you never see it again,” Mr. Card said about money he thinks should have been restored to the account for road construction.
The grant money includes checks for $82,150 related to a Ram Island project completed a couple of years ago and $123,000 reimbursed for a project at the Recycling Center. Mr. Card expected that once the work was completed and the grant reimbursement applied for, it should have landed in his unexpended fund balance.
Instead, it was apparently used elsewhere, according to Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar. But just where it was used and when Mr. Card can expect to see money restored to his account remains unclear.
