LAKE PLACID – The Lake Placid-North Elba Community Development Commission pitched its final proposed permit system to the North Elba Town Council Tuesday. Though the council had 45 minutes worth of questions about vacation rentals for CDC Chairman Dean Dietrich, in the end, the council said they were supportive of the permit system.

“I have no problem with this,” North Elba Town Supervisor Roby Politi said.

“As far as safety is concerned and health and safety issues,” he added, “I do think that this addresses (them), (but) it’s only as good as the quality of the person who fills it out, and that’s the way it is.”

The CDC’s proposed plan would require no-fee and fee permits for all transient rentals in the area, estimated to be at least 197 rental units in North Elba and 229 in the village. At Tuesday’s meeting, Politi said he wouldn’t be surprised if that number was much higher.

For rentals that are leased for fewer than 15 days per year, the CDC is proposing a required no-fee permit. For rentals in excess of 15 days per year, a permit with a $100 annual fee would be required.

The voluntary aspect of compliance, though, was something the town council said may result in problem renters not adhering to the system put in place to curb them.

“The people who are problem renters are likely not going to be the people responding,” town Councilman Bob Miller said.

“I like the permit; I think it’s great information,” Politi responded, “And I don’t really have a problem whatsoever with the questions you are asking, but I think Bob’s right in the majority of these people are never going to respond, unfortunately.”

Dietrich said the system the CDC is proposing is similar to what the towns of Skaneateles and the Hamptons are currently doing, and in his discussions with representatives from those towns, “they seem to think it’s working.”

“The problems are going to continue to be a problem, and the only way you are going to deal with this is having a hammer,” Miller said. “And I don’t see this as us having a hammer.”

Dietrich then said failure to comply would result in the same punitive measures that currently exist in the land use code.

North Elba Town Attorney Ron Briggs said he wasn’t convinced that would be enough of a deterrent for some renters.

“I’ve been here 40 years,” Briggs said. “I’ve seen very little enforcement of the land use code in 40 years, and that goes today just as it did 25 years ago. So my concern is the actual enforcement. We talk about enforcement. We do not do enforcement. We just don’t.”

Dietrich said the advertisement of a property for rent on a website such as Airbnb would be “presumptive evidence” of a rental, and he said he and a member of the town and village’s joint code enforcement office had already scoured Airbnb and other sites to come up with an initial list and number of rentals in the town and village.

Briggs asked what was the primary problem that lead to the idea of this extra level of government regulation. Dietrich said there have been numerous small fires such as “pizza box” fires started at vacation rental properties in the village and town in recent years.

In the August report, the CDC said the main reason for the proposed permit system is to address the “safety gap” between hotels and vacation rentals, as “health and safety regulations of a hotel or bed and breakfast do not apply” to transient rentals.

“I think with this you’re closer,” said town Councilman Jack Favro. “It’s workable.”

Miller then went on to say that the biggest complaint he’s heard about with vacation rentals is noise, and he wasn’t sure this solves that problem. Miller asked Dietrich what could be done to have more state police help with enforcement of noise ordinances of vacation rentals in the town’s jurisdiction, and Dietrich said, to his knowledge, there aren’t enough resources for the state police to do that routinely in the area.

“The biggest problem with vacation rentals is you have a few people, landlords, who don’t pay attention, who could care less,” Politi said, “who are only in it for the money and they ruin it for everybody to the point people now want to pass law and legislation to regulate a few idiots.”

The CDC presented the final plan to the village board on Sept. 19. Dietrich said in the near future he would likely schedule a meeting between he, Politi and Lake Placid Mayor Craig Randall to settle on the final details of the permit system.

The CDC’s Rental Permit Study Group was made up of representatives from the town and village code enforcement office, hotel owners, real estate agents the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism and local homeowners. They met 10 times since Nov. 2014 to put together its Quality Housing Report. Several other meetings and joint-meetings with the Lake Placid village board and North Elba Town Council also took place in that time period. The final report was drafted in August.

The CDC proposes the Lake Placid-North Elba code enforcement office, a joint office between the village and town, administer the permit system. The plan attempts to administer the permit system without increasing the size of the office. The permit system will rely on an affidavit system where owners of rental units would submit a notarized document certifying compliance with all permit requirements. The application process would be rolling and be conducted electronically online.

For more information on the proposed permit system, visit www.futurelakeplacid.com/studies-reports/rental-permit-study-group/.