SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Development Board is preparing to schedule a series of hearing dates to make its way through the rest of the preexisting short-term vacation rental permits it has on its plate, with an expectation to wrap them all up in May.

The volunteer board has been tackling a handful of these applications at each meeting, chipping away at a long list following the passage of the village’s STR law in June. But now board members plan to add three extra meetings — one each in March, April and May — to take on “batches” of these applications, around 23 at each meeting.

Saranac Lake Village Community Development Director Katrina Glynn said she wants these special meetings to focus only on STR permits, both to speed up the process and to separate them out from the development board’s regular board meetings, which grow long with numerous other projects on the agenda. Tuesday’s meeting lasted around three-and-a-half hours, with five STR hearings, as well as hearings on subdivisions, site plan reviews for a restaurant, a theater and a hardware store.

Glynn said they have not set dates for these STR-specific meetings yet, but she expects to do so soon.

The all-volunteer board has found a rhythm with these STR permit approvals and is getting them done faster than expected, but they felt the most efficient way to handle the rest is to batch them together.

Development Board Chair Allie Pelletieri said they’ve had few complaints on the STR units they’ve heard thus far — only one letter with complaints about parking and few other comments at all. It is mostly neighbors showing up to meetings to support their neighbors, he said.

Glynn said she has everything they need from applicants and wants to get them through the approval process.

“We’re not looking, by any means, to rush through anything and take anything away from the process,” Glynn said. “But I do think that … doing bigger batches, I think it might just run a little faster.”

These extra meetings will mean the preexisting STR permit process will end sooner than expected. They initially anticipated it might take more than a year to work through the backlog.

Glynn said the village has 90 preexisting STR permits in total and they’ve gone through approximately 22 to 24 so far since they started these hearings in October. The village had previously reported that there were a total of 78 preexisting STRs, but Glynn said that number’s been updated.

When the village passed a law to cap the total number of STRs authorized to operate in Saranac Lake, it included a measure to protect those who are already operating them by creating a process to grandfather in all existing units, guaranteeing special use permits to all owners of preexisting STRs. Grandfathering in these preexisting units was the first step of implementing its new law. These permits are guaranteed to be approved, with potential conditions set by the development board, based on public comment.

The village has passed a moratorium on the issuance of any new STR permits, which is set to last until December 2024. It can be extended or shortened, depending on how long the grandfathering process takes. After this moratorium ends, the village could choose to approve more permits. Glynn said discussions about changing the length of the moratorium, or about if the village would approve more permits after it ends, have not started yet.

Anyone who has not submitted an application for a preexisting permit by now should not be renting out their property as an STR. Otherwise, they would be in violation of the village law and subject to fines — $500 per day of violation.

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The process

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To become legal, STR operators who have not applied for a preexisting special use permit will need to get in line when applications open and be subject to things like village residency requirements, which units that are grandfathered in are exempt from.

How long each individual hearing takes could vary 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 short process. If numerous neighbors show up to lodge complaints, it could take longer.

The purpose of these hearings is to set conditions on permits if needed. These conditions must tie back to the development code. Things like dog 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. What can be discussed includes parking, lighting, trash, landscaping, screening, utilities, property line setbacks, character of neighborhood and impact on neighbors.

Before each hearing, the village is supposed to provide letters for STR owners to distribute to neighboring property owners within 200 feet of their property line. Neighboring renters do not get these letters, but they can ask landlords to post them in rental units for tenants to see.

Preexisting STRs can continue to operate before the owners get a grandfathered permit. Owners of preexisting 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.

There will be fees for obtaining an STR permit, with sharply increasing rates for larger and larger operations — ranging from $25 to $1,600.

These special use permits are guaranteed to preexisting STR applicants under the new STR law, but based on public comment, the development board can set some conditions on the permits.

All preexisting STR permits come with these conditions:

¯ STR owners must provide the village with a site plan with clarification of parking spaces.

¯ Applicants must separately apply for an STR permit.

¯ Camping is prohibited.

¯ The STR permit, emergency contact numbers and a copy of the village “house rules” must be displayed in the unit.

¯ Renters must comply with noise regulations, maximum occupancy limits and parking locations.

¯ Rental arbitrage — also known as subletting, or the practice of renting out a long-term rental on a short-term basis — is prohibited.

¯ The unit owner is responsible for garbage removal and must comply with signage requirements.

These STR owners will all still have to apply for an STR permit later.