As town supervisor and a lifelong citizen of the town of Wilmington, I feel compelled to respond to a recent letter to the editor regarding short term rentals (STRs).

The letter could lead you to believe that most of the town board, which I am part of, does not understand or take the STR regulation seriously. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Our approach to regulating STRs has been systematic and realistic. The town started creating the current STR regulations in 2018 (before I was supervisor) with a committee dedicated to the issue, followed by public hearing and meetings. During the public hearings we heard arguments from both sides and took the approach of balancing the needs of the community with the rights of private property owners, many of whom are local residents.

The town board decided the very first course of action was to register all the vacation rentals in Wilmington. I stand by this approach and will maintain this position. I am certainly open to looking at new ways to tighten the STR ordinance or listen to community concerns once the registration process is complete, but I do not support a moratorium at this point.

STRs have benefited our community members beyond those who own the rentals. Wilmington has collected $185,751.60 in occupancy tax since 2020 and many residents that have good-paying primary or second jobs associated with this industry.

The letter also suggests that we will have the same fate as our friends in Lake Placid if we do not take immediate action on STRs. Folks, we will never be like Lake Placid, even if we wanted to be. We do not have cheap municipal electricity or sewage; our zoning is much more restrictive and Adirondack Park Agency oversight is at every turn as 60% of land in the town of Wilmington is state-owned. Lake Placid has experienced growth and investment to a level that we could not sustain — our infrastructure just wouldn’t support it. You only need to drive through town to see several of the currently empty but once thriving businesses to know that the demand isn’t the same.

Full disclosure, my wife and I own STRs at our Whiteface Corners property along with regular long-term rentals. Our property is unique as it is commercially zoned and was formerly a hotel. Unfortunately, I understand why property owners are fed up. Our last tenants destroyed a two bedroom apartment where we only charged $650 a month including heat, lights and trash removal. The repairs to this rental will be in the thousands. I know other landlords in similar situations that are so fed up that they have stopped renting their properties entirely.

Lack of housing is a serious issue, which is why I proposed Wilmington Homestead Housing, which is a public-private partnership that aims to help locals own their own home. STRs are not solely to blame for the lack of housing in Wilmington. In fact, there is a well documented housing shortage throughout our state and nation that has nothing to do with STRs.

It is easy to make arguments that we should turn our attention away from everything else like skating rinks, cosmetic improvements and events to focus on preserving housing for locals. Statements like this show a general lack of understanding of the issues facing a community like Wilmington. At any given time we have a crop of dedicated and talented town staff, elected officials, and engaged citizens working on numerous projects that hopefully make the quality of life better for everyone living and visiting here.

I’ve lived in Wilmington my entire life and I understand the downside of tourism but the reality is that we are and always have been a hospitality community. In fact, we have been serving up “Adirondack Hospitality” since 1822.

When my wife and I owned and operated the Little Super Market, tourism permitted us to keep fifteen employees working. We even had staff housing for some of our exceptional staff. I would argue that without tourism, we would have had a fraction of the staff. We certainly would never have the opportunity to borrow funds to place a gas station in town or support many civic events and projects.

Several businesses here in town are in the same situation — they need tourism. Local business alone is not enough to support a payroll, especially here in New York state. We can’t pretend that tourism isn’t an important component of our economy that supports locals.

I have great respect for some of the individuals that signed the letter that I am addressing. Some I know, others I do not. I do honestly wonder if the letter was written collectively or part of an organized phone campaign to have names added to a drafted letter. I can tell you with certainty that I wrote every word here and will stand by it.

What I do know is that I have always tried to do the right thing by our community and the people that reside here. I am not perfect. The last few years have been hard on all of us. The pandemic and political discourse has created a vacuum of all things negative. In my role as supervisor, I have taken stands on issues that reflect my love of our community and the practical steps needed to improve it.

In my typical manner, I have written too much. I hope you have a better understanding of my position.

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Roy Holzer is the Wilmington town supervisor and a member of the Essex County Board of Supervisors. He lives in Wilmington.