Short-term rental regulations in the offing

The rules are likely to take into account the safety of guests and the concerns of neighbors.

PORT EWEN, N.Y. » The Esopus Town Board is reviewing recommendations from the town code enforcement officer about regulations to included when developing a law to cover shortterm house rentals.

Esopus, like other towns in the region, is working to address a growing number of rentals listed on such websites such as Airbnb.com.

“We need to have a record of where all of them are in the town,” said Councilwoman Gloria VanVliet.

An Airbnb search on Thursday revealed short-term rental listings for 10 properties in Esopus.

“The main concern is to consider safety of the people both that are going to be using them and the safety of our emergency service workers so that when people actually come here, they have an enjoyable time,” Councilman Wayne Freer said. “The only way I see that is to have something through our zoning or building code allowing our local building inspector to take a look at these premises ... because right now, as private dwellings, they are not inspected.”

Town Code Enforcement Officer Salvatore Morello said in a June 8 memo that some of the recommended regulations are intended to address complaints from the neighbors of rental properties.

Possible short-term rental rules in Esopus include restricting hours of operation, requiring parking spaces for guests, basing permits on the size of a dwelling, limiting the length of stays, noise limits, sign restrictions and limiting rentals to specific zoning districts.

Town Board members said they also would like to require that fire and safety inspections be done before properties can be listed fop rent and that inspections be conducted annually as part of permit renewals.

Freer said compiling a list of where short-term rental properties are located could prove invaluable in an emergency.

“Listing where they are allows emergency services to know that they are not going to a single-family house at 3 o’clock in the morning; they are going to possibly six, eight, a dozen people in what would normally be a single-family residence,” he said. “It makes a big difference.”

Esopus officials plan to review short-term rental laws adopted in other communities before drafting regulations.

“I’d like to look at some of the ones throughout the rest of the state,” Freer said. “The midwest part of the state ... [has] been dealing with it with the wine trail for a while.”