A debate over vacation rental housing in a Cayuga County tourist community that one person had said was tearing the community apart is now on its way to a much more peaceful resolution.
Village of Fair Haven leaders Monday evening heard comments on the latest draft of a proposed law regulating short-term rental housing. The draft removed the key objection: A proposed cap on the number of homes that can be rented.
The law had proposed freezing the number of short-term rental permits at about six percent of the village’s total number of homes. Officials said the cap would address concerns about changing the character of the village, a community of about 1,000 people that comes alive with tourists from Memorial Day to Labor Day. There were also concerns about preventing out-of-town investment and neighborhood nuisances from vacationers.
Opponents of the cap turned out in force at a public hearing in April to say the cap would be too low, preventing a few owners who are in the process of renovating homes from being able to receive a permit. The large majority of owners of short term rental properties live either in Fair Haven or nearby, and a local winery owner said that the village is losing money because wedding parties using his facility have to stay elsewhere because of a lack of rooms to rent.
At Monday night’s hearing, the fifth public hearing the village has held on the proposal, the proposed cap remained in the law but was moved to next year. “We may change that number down the road,” Mayor Brian DiBernardo said. “We think a minimum of a (delay of a) year will give us enough time to further examine this issue and see what kind of effects it will have on our community.”
He said the village would create a committee that included residents and short term rental owners to study the issue and make recommendations about what to do next year. The proposed law will be voted on at the next village board meeting.
Daniel Fey, who lives in Fair Haven and owns two short term rental properties in the village, said he was surprised by the changes. “I think they've made some good decisions, and if they involve the community a little more, I think we can come to a good resolution where it's beneficial for everybody,”
The hearing stood in sharp contrast to the tense, standing-room-only April hearing. “I wanted to say thank you for the revisions,” said resident and short term rental owner Abby Weaver. “It's, I think, reflective of what the community needs and what tourism needs and is just a little more fair.”
There are still disagreements on less-contentious points, such as how many properties one owner can operate and whether permits can be transferred with the sale of the property to a non-family member. Mayor DiBernardo said the village leadership has shown it can listen and react. “Today's our fifth public hearing.
And after the previous four, we changed it every time. So we were definitely open to suggestions.”
