LAKE PLACID — The village of Lake Placid and the town of North Elba have scheduled a series of public hearings and meetings that will bring the two boards closer to voting on new short-term vacation rental regulations.

Town and village officials could vote on the new regulations as soon as Tuesday, Dec. 20.

Dec. 16 — second

hearing on STR law

The town and village want to alter their proposed STR regulations after 11 Deerwood Hills residents at a public hearing on the regulations last month voiced their opposition to the town’s proposal to rezone the 48 parcels in their neighborhood from a “Rural Countryside” district to a “Town Residential” district. As a result of the public comments and further debate about the rezoning at a follow-up meeting, the town council decided to drop the proposal.

However, removing the rezoning from the town and village’s proposed STR regulations is such a significant change that the municipalities are required to hold another public hearing on the updated proposal, according to Doty. Additionally, the town wants to add properties affiliated with the Whiteface Club and Resort, LLC to its proposed “lodging” STR district.

The town and village will hold their second STR public hearing on the revised law at 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 16 in the North Elba Town Hall’s first-floor meeting room. People can attend the meeting virtually at meet.goto.com/lpv, or by calling 1-872-240-3212 and entering the code 690-687-301.

The amended proposed STR law is available online at tinyurl.com/4j48uva5.

Meanwhile, the town council asked Deerwood residents to take a poll amongst themselves on whether or not they want to be rezoned and report their results to the town council within two weeks. If a majority of 80% or more residents in Deerwood said they wanted to be rezoned to a Town Residential district, Doty said the town council would rezone Deerwood with an amendment to the new STR law. The Deerwood poll results, obtained by the Enterprise Friday, showed that 42 of the 45 people who responded preferred that their neighborhood remains in the Rural Countryside district.

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Dec. 19 — moratorium extension hearing

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Because the town and village boards want to file their new STR law before their current moratoriums on STR permits end, the recent changes to the proposed regulations have had a domino effect on the village board, which now wants to extend its moratorium on the issuance of new STR permits — currently set to end on Dec. 30, according to village Attorney Janet Bliss — through Jan. 31, 2023. The extension would give the boards extra time to hold their second STR public hearing and file the new STR law with the county and state.

A moratorium extension also requires a public hearing. The village will hold a hearing on its moratorium extension at 4:45 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 19, ahead of the village’s regular board meeting at 5 p.m. in the North Elba Town Hall.

A link to attend the meeting virtually will be provided by end of day Friday, Dec. 16, according to the meeting notice. It will be the same link as for that day’s board meeting.

Village Mayor Art Devlin said that if the village extends its moratorium but passes its new STR law before the moratorium ends on Jan. 31, the village could terminate the moratorium earlier. He hopes the village could have its new STR law in place by the time 2022 comes to an end.

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Dec. 20 — SEQRA meeting, possible vote

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The town and village have also scheduled a joint meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 20 to discuss the environmental impacts of the new STR law as required by the state’s Environmental Quality Review Act. On Friday, Doty and Devlin said the town and village might be ready to hold their votes on the new STR law at the Dec. 20 meeting.

People can attend the joint meeting in person at the North Elba Town Hall, online at meet.goto.com/lpv, or via phone by dialing 1-872-240-3212 and entering the code 690-687-301.