To the editor:

The following is an excerpt from my Dec. 19 letter to the village board:

I write to provide personal feedback and pose a few questions regarding my recent experience with short-term rentals in the village of Saranac Lake. On Dec. 17, a Short-Term Rental Permit was issued for the apartment in which I currently reside, following a Dec. 2 public hearing held before the Community Development Board.

Pursuant to associated procedures for public hearings as outlined in 106-20, “A copy of the notice of public hearing shall be provided by the applicant by certified mail to all owners within 200 feet of the tax map parcel on which the applicant’s project is proposed and proof of certified mailing upon such individual property owners shall be provided to the Village Community Development Director before the public hearing is held. The applicant shall also post a conspicuous, waterproof copy of the notice at the site of the proposed project at least 10 days prior to the date of the hearing.”

On Nov. 30, I first became aware of the short-term rental application and the Dec. 2 public hearing when, out of concern for me, a neighbor shared a copy of the public hearing notice they had received from the applicant via certified mail (since they were identified as an owner within 200 feet of the project). Despite residing full-time at my apartment for years, I was not identified as eligible to receive a notice of the public hearing by certified mail and I have yet to ever come across any posted conspicuous, waterproof copy of the notice at the site of the proposed project.

This leads me to pose a few questions:

1. Is it possible to amend 106-104.3 short-term rentals application to clearly ask and identify if displacement of a long-term rental tenant and/or conversion of a long-term rental unit to a short-term rental unit is required as part of the current project proposal?

2. Is it possible to amend 106-104.3 short-term rentals to require a copy of the notice of public hearing be provided by the applicant by certified mail to all current tenants residing at the tax map parcel on which the applicant’s project is proposed and proof of certified mailing upon such individual tenants shall be provided to the Village Community Development Director before the public hearing is held? This would be in addition to requiring the applicant to post a conspicuous, waterproof copy of the notice at the site of the proposed project at least 10 days before the date of the hearing. It seems to me that village officials would want to ensure all potentially affected long-term rental tenants have as much advance notice as possible to pursue alternate living arrangements.

3. Is it possible to document and publish the number of existing long-term rental units that are permitted to be converted to short-term rental units on an annual basis?

4. Is it possible to document and publish the number of long-term rental tenants displaced due to the permitted conversions in 3 above on an annual basis?

Trevor Fravor

Saranac Lake