SARANAC LAKE — Now that the village board has passed its short-term vacation rental law, which created a permit process for the units, the village development board is preparing to spend the next 18 months or so issuing around 80 permits to preexisting units.

The village plans to cap the number of short-term rentals, or STRs, allowed in the village, but in its new law has created a process to “grandfather in” all existing units, guaranteeing permits to the owners of existing STRs before the village limits the number of new permits it issues in the future. Owners of existing STRs are still required to follow all safety and good neighbor rules in the law, but are exempt from things like residency requirements for future STR owners.

The development board met on Tuesday to discuss how they’ll take on “grandfathering” in existing rentals. They are also looking for new members to fill out the board, which has been getting by with a reduced roster in recent months while facing an increased workload.

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STR moratorium coming

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The village board passed its STR law on June 12 — but it’s not law yet, technically. The law won’t take effect until it’s filed with the state.

Village Community Development Director Jamie Konkoski said the village has held off on filing the STR law with the state until the village board votes on a separate 18-month moratorium this coming Monday. That moratorium, if adopted, would pause the issuance of any new vacation rental permits for the next 18 months as the development board works through its backlog of permits for existing STRs.

Konkoski said the village has a certain number of days to file a new law with the state after the board passes it, and they are still within that range. If the moratorium does not pass Monday, they’ll have to send the law to the state to meet that deadline.

The law cannot take effect until the state tells the village it has received the law. Konkoski said the state could take a month or more to respond to the village. After the state confirms the law, preexisting STR owners will have a 60-day window to submit their applications to be grandfathered in.

Konkoski said they’ll start notifying STR owners then, by emailing the owners of all the units that show up in the village’s Rentalscape data, posting notices on the village website and social media, and issuing press releases. She said the village will send STR owners the special use permit application they’ll submit to the village. The board has a draft of of that application it is finalizing now.

The moratorium would set things up so the development board has 18 months to get through the backlog of around 80 preexisting STR permits before they can move on to tackle new ones. This moratorium can be extended, Konkoski said, but they should try to meet that 18-month deadline.

Konkoski said the creation of this law has cooled the STR market and real estate speculation in the village.

“The number of new STRs has kind of paused because people don’t want to close on real estate deals if they can’t operate them,” she said.

As the law has been crafted, she’s been called by people looking to buy properties for STRs with questions about the regulations.

“They’re relieved that they called. They’re disappointed because they have to decide between operating a long-term rental temporarially or not going through with the deal,” Konkoski said.

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How the hearings will be run

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There are approximately 80-or-so existing STRs in the village. Board member Meg Cantwell-Jackson calculated that this backlog should be worked through at around 4.5 applications per month.

“That’s not bad,” board Chair Allie Pelletieri said.

He added that the fact that they legally have to approve these applications takes a lot of the pressure off, but they still have to do their due diligence.

“If no one has a complaint against one, and we have to approve it, there’s not much for us to do, really,” Pelletieri said.

The development board members plan to still meet once a month and tackle four to five hearings at their regularly scheduled monthly meetings.

How long these hearings last could vary drastically depending on how many members of the public show up for them. If no one comes to talk about a rental, it could be a very short process. If numerous neighbors show up to lodge complaints, it could take a while.

If a meeting goes long, they still have to do all the public hearings, since they advertised them to be held on that day and rescheduling wouldn’t be fair to neighbors, the public or STR owners, Konkoski said.

So, Konkoski said they should hold all the hearings at once, first, and then hold all the board discussion of conditions and voting on approving the permits after. If a hearing goes long, the board could postpone their discussion of conditions and approval of the permits until another meeting, she said. This could be a second meeting that month, or the next month’s special meeting.

The whole board appeared excited about this plan and Development Board Member Bill Domenico called it “genius.” Konkoski said this is a “relief valve” for the board, which will be spending hours and hours in these meetings. Since preexisting STRs can continue to operate before the owners get their grandfathered permit, there’s no impact on the owners if the board prolongs a decision. Konkoski said the board will include the conditions the board sets right on the permit.

Board member Dan Reilly said they’ll have to determine if neighbor complaints are legit or if the neighbors are being “NIMBYs.”

Konkoski said the purpose of these hearings is to set conditions on permits if needed. These conditions must — she emphasized, must — tie back to the development code. So most neighbor complaints will likely not be relevant. Things like dog complaints and noise complaints are not relevant to the board’s abilities. These are issues that are to be handled by other agencies, like the police or code enforcement officers.

Board member Rick Weber asked for Konkoski to provide a focused list of what can be considered for conditions — ground rules for public comment. This is not an exclusive list, but should give people a good idea of what they can talk about with the board — parking, lighting, trash, landscaping, screening, utilities, property line setbacks, character of neighborhood and impact on neighbors, as long as these conditions tie back to the development code.

She plans to include this list in the letters the village will give to STR owners, who are required to mail them to neighboring property owners within 200 feet of the property line.

Neighboring renters do not get these letters, Konkoski said, but they can ask landlords to post them in rental units for tenants to see.

According to the village development code, the board may impose any conditions it considers necessary to protect the health, safety, welfare and best interests of the village, its citizens, surrounding property and the neighborhood or village as a whole. The STR permits shall not be issued until all the conditions are met.

Konkoski told the board members they do not need to respond to public comments. These hearings are for the public to inform the board’s decisions, not for a back-and-forth with the board. She said these should be run in a more formal way than normal development board meetings, to ensure they are done quickly, efficiently and uniformly.

She emphasized that the board is not meant to mediate a debate between neighbors and STR owners.

The STR owners are only at the meeting for the board to ask questions of them after the public hearing has been closed. Project applications are normally presented to the board either by the applicant themselves or a village staff member. The board agreed to have only staff members describe the application to the board.

The board is required to create a staff report on each application anyway.

Domenico asked if they could put “problem properties” at the top of the list to get those done first. The board has all the discretion it wants to do that, Konkoski said. Pelletieri said he plans to ask the Saranac Lake village police if there are certain STRs they respond to often. The board plans to hold hearings for STR permits in the order of when they are filed, unless the police identify a problem property. In that case, that property would be pushed to the top of the list.

Under the new law, STRs are not required to be inspected by the village code enforcement officer, but STR owners are required to sign an affidavit that they meet all the rules and regulations, and agree to be open to an inspection if one is deemed necessary. The code enforcement officer will inspect the property if there is a complaint from a guest or neighbor, or suspicion that a rule is being broken.

The village will give each STR owner a printout of good neighbor and safety “house rules” to display for guests, whether on a wall or in a binder for guests to view. Konkoski said they are editing the language for tone, so it reads more friendly and less intimidating than the legal wording, and they’ll have a design to make it look nice.

After a permit is approved, the village code enforcement officer will determine the maximum occupancy for each unit based on the building’s floor plan.

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New members needed

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Board members said they are in need of more members. They hope to get a full board and full list of alternates. Alternates are members who attend meetings but do not participate unless one of the regular members is absent. The board needs three members to take a vote. It is supposed to have five members with two alternates. Right now, the board has four members with Domenico serving as an alternate. Nearly everyone needs to be at every meeting, and Konkoski said they’ve had some close calls recently with vacations and sickness keeping members away.

Board members have expressed concerns over the workload this law will bring.

“This is a lot of work already,” Domenico said on Tuesday.

But development board members were also encouraged with the plan they are piecing together.

Domenico expressed interest in returning full-time to the board after some time as an alternate. Ultimately, who is on the development board is a decision made by the mayor.

Board members said joining as an alternate is a good way for someone interested in the board to get their feet wet before committing to it fully.

The village board will meet on June 26 at 5:30 p.m. to vote on the STR moratorium.