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06-08-2022 SPMTG#16 Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 651 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING MTG#16 June 8, 2022 RES#220 3:21 P.M. BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT SUPERVISOR JOHN STROUGH COUNCILMAN ANTHONY METIVIER COUNCILMAN HARRISON FREER COUNCILMAN TIMOTHY MCNULTY BOARD MEMBER ABSENT COUNCILMAN GEORGE FERONE TOWN OFFICIAL John Berry, Town Historian SUPERVISOR STROUGH called meeting to order... PUBLIC HEARING—PROPOSED LOCAL LAW AMENDING CHAPTER 115 OF THE QUEENSBURY TOWN CODE RELATING TO SHORT-TERM RENTALS PUBLICATION DATE: JUNE 2, 2022 SUPERVISOR STROUGH-We are having a public hearing on some of the proposed amendments of our Chapter 115 Short Term Rental Law. Councilman Freer was about to highlight those proposed changes and then we will open the public hearing. I have asked the public to keep your first round to four minutes or less and then if you wish to have more time, I will give you more time after we get through everybody. If you want a second chance to say more, you're certainly going to be given the opportunity to say so. Okay, Harrison. COUNCILMAN FREER-Okay, so on May 16t' at our Town Board meeting, we set this, one of two public hearings. There is another public hearing scheduled for our normal Town Board meeting on June 27t'. There are copies of the proposed changes on the table out there. I think most people have them. I am going to quickly summarize them. I am going to talk fast, make like I am from New York City but I am not. The first is that we've limited the car per bedroom down to one car per bedroom. So, a three bedroom STR is only allowed to have three cars staying overnight. The two other significant things are that we are proposing to have a minimum of five day stay for each Short Term Rental and that's really geared to providing the neighborhood with less turmoil and people coming and going and also trying to reduce the temptation for weekend bashes that disturb the quality of the neighborhood. The second significant changes to limit the Short Term Rental days per year that folks are allowed to do it to a hundred and twenty days. Now, the big significant caveat there is that neither one of those, five day limit or one hundred twenty day limit will apply, and I will read it, 115-4, this limitation does not apply where the Short Term Rental property or an immediately adjacent property is the principal residence of the Short Term Rental owner. So, that's an important input that we got and I think it makes the law a little bit more fair and provides us with balance in terms of what we're trying to do. The fifth thing that we did, I am sorry, the fourth thing was more of a clarification of Short Term Rental owners and the current law are required to notify people who are the property owners adjacent, quote, unquote. We've changed that for clarity to people, property owners within one hundred feet of their borderline. Adjacent got confused whether that was across the street or a couple of doors down on some small lots so this is just more of a clarification and again I think it provides that balance that we were searching for. And finally, there are some word changes that our lawyers have recommended with regard to the enforcement part and all of those are highlighted in yellow in the copy that you picked up. So,that's it, over to you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay, any other Town Board folks want to say anything? COUNCLMAN MCNULTY-If I may John, in the initial meeting there was discussion of a number of complaints and why are we working to change something that seems to be working. We're trying to be proactive as opposed to reactive. We understand homeowners' rights but we also understand that the neighbors have rights too. I look forward to hearing from this Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 652 discussion. We have had lots of discussions with individuals prepping for this. We'll go through this and then we'll go through it again on the 27t'. Any and all comments are appreciated. SUPERVISOR STROUGH read the following correspondence into the record: Hi John, I understand that the Airbnb issue is being addressed again. I am an Airbnb enthusiast but no in residential neighborhoods by non-resident owners. We have endangered by these people shooting fireworks into dry woods, racing up our mountain road and disrespecting the residents of our neighborhood. Any restrictions that can limit their impact would be great. Queensbury is a family oriented community. Just my thoughts. Sue Beadle I think limiting it to 5 days, and 120 days a year is a bad idea. There are a lot of local weekend events throughout the year that bring people and money into the community. Those tourists will never rent and pay for 5 days. Below are just a few examples of the times of year these limitations would affect the tourism traffic that's brought into our communities, and depend on these weekend influxes on money spent from the tourism. This will without questions affect the amount of people who will come up and attend, they aren't going to decide to stay in some of our local hotels (because the amount of higher end stay hotels is very limited), they're just not going to come. Anything more than a two day minimum will without question have a very negative impact on the local economy. Memorial Day July 4th Winter Carnival Ice Bars Labor Day New Years Fall Weekends (Leaf Chasing Season) Labor Day Thanksgiving Christmas Every weekend in the summer There's also the Fall weekends that bring in a ton of local tourism in September, October, and November. Dave Chambers Dear Supervisor Strough, As you know, for the past three years, we have had a full-time, year-round Short-Term Rental, operated by a motel owner, next to our home. Initially, we naively believed our home lives would proceed as normal, minus the presence of the previous owner of the home who would wave to us and our children when he passed by our house. However, after a short time in operation, it became clear that the behavior of the numerous guests and their visitors, as well as the host and his staff, would not allow our peaceful neighborhood to remain as it was. We tried to work with the owner of the property to resolve and prevent the frequent issues. We sought the help of the town to better understand town code, and were asked to speak in support of the Short-Term Rental Law which was passed in May of 2020. Our public participation in meetings was met with a threat from the attorney of the host, stating, among other things, if we were to bring any nuisance complaints to the Town of Queensbury or any other entity, we would be sued for harassment. Ten days after we filed our first official complaint with the town, we were officially sued. Now,two years and thousands of dollars in legal fees later, we continue to try to work with the host, and the town, to resolve this issue. We volunteered with the Short-Term Rental Advisory Committee to help both hosts and residents find a compromise to protect the safety and privacy of Town residents, while helping the economic interests of property-owner/hosts. We spent hours with the committee, hours and hours of our own time researching existing laws, lawsuits, rights of property owners and residents, all while dealing with the daily struggles and problems of having a commercial Short-Term Rental outside our door. Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 653 We have been contacted by many neighbors of STRs who find our name in the paper, and are asked how to resolve their problems. Although we pass on the contact information of their respective councilmen and the Building and Codes department, many are hesitant to bring their names forward. They have heard of our legal threat, and some have witnessed our treatment at town meetings. For those of us who do not enjoy being in the public eye, it is very intimidating to bring problems up publicly. It is even more difficult and discouraging when we are met with the disrespect we received at the Town Board Meeting on Monday, May 16, 2022. Although not present on February 14, 2022, we watched the recording of the Queensbury Town Board meeting and saw the 7 or 8 pro-STR individuals and business-owners, many of whom don't live in, or even own properties, in the Town of Queensbury. All were listened to and treated with the utmost respect, as well they should. Since our last participation in a Town Meeting, we have been contacted by more STR neighbors, as well as people in the community, who were appalled by our rude dismissal at the May meeting. Throughout the entirety of our STR problems, we have always been patient with the town. We have expressed appreciation for the men of the board, and all the participants on the STR Advisory Board. We have respectfully listened to those who operate Short- Term Rentals, and tried to be empathetic to their concerns. We have tried to find a way to make things work for everyone, including those with whom we disagree. And still, we are truly grateful to you, as well as all the Council People who have spent the time trying to improve this issue for all the residents of Queensbury. However, for a family who deals with the nightmare of having an STR next door every single day, it was disheartening to be so rudely and abruptly cut off at the May Town Meeting, particularly when we have spent so much time trying to help the town deal with this issue for ALL residents of Queensbury. Every day we deal with the financial devastation of being two years into being bullied and sued by a host. Every day we deal with the emotional stress of being harassed by the owner, and transients expecting us to adjust our lives to accommodate their vacation plans. Every day we wonder who the strangers are looking into our home, and watching our children. Thank you very much for the attention you have given to this issue, as it continues to increase, and adversely affect more and more residents of our community. Sincerely, Jennifer Dobkowski SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Yes sir. Please identify yourself for the record. TOWN CLERK BARBER-Will you please sign in for me too. JOHN WOODHOUSE, Queensbury-My name is John Woodhouse, I reside here in Queensbury, work here in Queensbury and I am also a Short Term Rental operator here in Queensbury and I am fully supportive of neighbors looking at these. I don't want any single family resident to be bothered in anyway by guests that are staying and fully support the purposes and goals that you have stated in the proposed regulations. I just want to mention a few names, Joshua came and stayed for a get-a-way to the area. Julie came and visited this past winter for the ice castles along with many other guests. Milton brought his sons so they could go skiing at West Mountain. Meredith and her husband brought their daughter to be at a ski competition at West Mountain. John was here on business. Monica came with friends to visit Lake George. Craig has been several times to visit his daughter. Gina is coming for the Warrensburg Garage Sale. All of those people have been here and have had great experiences. We hosted them and we didn't have public safety issues. I don't think the neighbors even knew anything was happening. And so my concern is that many of the regulations help to provide a good environment for neighborhoods but at the same time, the thing that I want to propose is that it seems unnecessary to have a minimum of five days. I think that any day that someone stays, you could have a negative experience and for effectively creating the five day minimum, will shut down operations of the two units that operate outside of the summer season. So, what is happening is that regulation is going to immediately cause me to be in a situation where I cannot have economic development. I can't have income. I can't hire cleaners. I can't have tradesmen come and repair things because we're just not going to have rentals outside the prime season of July and August. And then on the shorter season, again, it's going to be very, very difficult to have five days. And my concern as well is for the maximum of one hundred and twenty days. Then again, on the off season, over the winter, I think people are going to be inside more, they're not Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 654 going to be outside bothering neighbors. And cannot those purposes be achieved for my neighbors by just threatening to fine me if they're causing a problem? I have my own rules and regulations. I have security cameras everywhere. I know if something is not happening correctly, I get notified on my phone. I can be there in fifteen minutes. So, if my own regulations, my own enforcement, me as a local host and a local manager of the property, I can provide all of those things at any given time. And I don't think that turnover is a big concern if it's well managed. I don't think that a two or three day stay is a concern. Many of my guests have been for two to three days. We've had people there for a week. A quiet, no concerns from any of the neighbors. So, can we do the least onerous thing to get what we are seeking? And then if we continue to have problems, then maybe address the minimum days. But it will effectively shut down and I will have a vacant property and then I've got to figure out what I am going to do in the winter, where I have heat, that I need to have it heated. I will have to try and find somebody to stay there for thirty days. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-John, do you have a lot more? MR. WOODHOUSE-Oh, I have tons but is that the four minutes? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Well it was actually a little bit more because we forgot to set the timer. MR. WOODHOUSE-Oh, okay. My request is to eliminate the five day and the one hundred and twenty day. SUPERVSIOR STROUGH-Well you are welcome to come back. MR. WOODHOUSE-Okay, thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Alright, thank you. MARK LEPORIN-Good evening everybody. My name is Mark LePorin, I live on Lake Sunnyside and I am here to advocate for the minimum five day rentals and I'd like to show you all why. I will leave one of these out for everybody to look at it so they can see it. Our house is fifteen feet from a Short Term Rental house. Again, fifteen feet, the lots are only... SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Mark, you have to be on the record so you have to sit down at the mic. MR. LEPORIN-Okay, I would just like to give you guys this so you can... COUNCILMAN FREER-Okay, we'll pass it along. Go sit down and talk so we don't take your time. I am sorry if that's rude. MR. LEPORIN-We have experienced things that you would not believe. If you look at this picture, this looks like John Belushi's animal house. Like I said, fifteen feet from our house. We've had trouble with this for many years. Some of the laws have helped but these people come in for two or three days, they have no respect for anybody that I've seen. These are my experiences and my wife's. They party all day, party all night. When Americade was here, it was a nightmare, it went on for the entire week. They started at 10:30 in the morning, they never stopped until 4:30 a.m. when it got light. When houses are this close together, in my opinion, you are either selfish or greedy to put one of these next to somebody, fifteen feet away. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Sir, sir please talk to us. MR. LEPORIN-Sorry, fifteen feet away. COUNCILMAN FREER-We get it. MR. LEPORIN-So, I don't want to take a lot of people's time because I think the picture tells it all. So, my wife can't bring her grandchildren over in the summer because there is so much swearing going on and foul language. Again, fifteen feet away. Urinating off the decks. If you look at the pictures and see the decks, they're urinating off the decks. I was at my sink one day Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 655 doing dishes looking out my window, which everybody's window is over their sink, here's a kid urinating off the deck. I open the window and I go, `hey, what are you doing'? He puts his head down. I said, `hey, there's people coming in after you, you want to be walking around in that'? Now, unfortunately, I feel bad for some of these people that don't care about one or two days rental, but this is what we've experienced for several years. It's unacceptable to me and I support minimum five day rentals. In the future, if this isn't controlled somehow, I am going to advocate for having a proper distance between people's houses because fifteen feet is like living at Regency Park Apartments and running these things. Lake Sunnyside is a very quiet little lake. It's homeowners that have been there for decades and for this to go on, fifteen feet from my bedroom window, it's totally unacceptable. Now, in fairness to the responsible Short Term Rental owners, I feel bad for you because this guy that owned this one that just recently sold it because he couldn't be responsible. He was exactly that, irresponsible. We tried to work with him, he just didn't care. He was from out of state, he lived in Boston. He didn't care, he just wanted to make sure that he got that five hundred dollars a day and that's a lot of money. But not at my expense anymore, no, no, no. So we have a new owner next to us now, they seem nice. It's going to be a Short Term Rental again. I made it clear to them that this kind of behavior is not going to be tolerated and I will pursue any legal means I have to, to make sure it doesn't. That's all we ask. We really don't care what anybody does over there as long as they're quiet. But to have to go out at one thirty in the morning and quiet people down because they don't have respect for somebody fifteen feet away. My wife has been sexually threatened. I was physically threatened by one of the parties because we just wanted them to stop at one thirty in the morning. I mean really, where does it end? So the only, I am done John but the only recourse I think we have is to limit this to a minimum five days to try to get rid of these short term partiers, and it's not just the weekend. It's, they come in right after one another over there. Like I said, I met a guy that lives on the Hudson River, had a Short Term Rental a few years ago, his name was Mike, maybe he's here, he's got five acres. Well, have had it then. You know what I mean? But when you are living fifteen feet from somebody and I have taken a tape measure and gone from my exterior siding to exterior siding, it's fifteen feet. COUNCILMAN FREER-Okay, thank you. I appreciate it, I am sorry. MR. LEPORIN-And John, I would like to thank you and George Ferone for coming over in the past and checking out the situation. I really appreciate that, thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Alright Mark, thank you. Yes sir. DWIGHT BENEDICT-I am Dwight Benedict, I live in Queensbury and have a home in Queensbury. I also live on Long Island. So my family has been coming up, we have a summer home on Lake George. The family has been coming up since the early 1900's. We absolutely love the area, it's my favorite place in the world. It's a beautiful, beautiful place to be and this gentleman here, describing his sort of horror situation, as someone like myself does the Short Term Rental, it drives me nuts because it's experiences like that, that do not need to happen. I mean for one thing, if it was myself, if it were mine, I would be calling the cops on my own guests if anything like that was happening. I was a teacher. If you set expectations and you set certain parameters and you set guidelines and you set rules and regulations that never will happen. Or, if on the off chance that you just have someone who is just way out of left field and is just, you can't help it, people are human, sometimes human frailty occurs, but they can be addressed. That never has to happen. But we can do this in a way that is not going to be, that's not going to penalize those people like myself and the other gentleman who do things with respect and integrity and honesty. So,the place we have, I would plan to retire there but it doesn't have a first floor master bedroom or any bedroom. And so we looked around, we love Hudson Pointe Preserve. We found a beautiful place in the area. It's on a decent size lot, it has a couple of acres behind before there is another house. They are spread out. It's in the shape of a U but my kids are in ninth grade and so we wanted to get something and work in that direction and so my plan was to rent it for some Short Term Rentals to offset expenses and then our plan is to retire in this area. So, I called the Town of Queensbury and I spoke to several people in the Code Enforcement and said, `look, what's going on with the Short Term Rentals'? And they said, `well, we've had some big problems but it's effectively almost completely eradicated because of these rules and regulations we put in and so it has really helped'. I myself have rules and regulations. I collect a security deposit. I require that, I have a sound monitor, a decibel meter. I have exterior cameras so I can see what's going on, so I can monitor the situation. I have clear guidelines as to what are the expectations and so because of that, I have zero Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 656 problems. You know, maybe a place when somebody is a little messy. My place in Fort Ann, I have a porch, I put plexiglass because I didn't want screens because I know what it's like if you're out on a screened porch and voices carry, especially by the lake. So it's like, I myself have the level of precautions that I take, are extremely high. And so I was given assurances by the Town of Queensbury that, you know,this type of thing has already been sort of resolved. Meanwhile, it really wasn't and I just closed on the house in December. So, I would suggest, there's got to be a middle ground. There must be, where those people like myself. Look, why not, if you want to have, why not say no more than one rental per week? Because most people have a rental, it's based on a weekend. So, it's either they are going to stay for a weekend or maybe they're going to stay for a week or maybe they're going to stay for three or four days. But if someone is willing to put these common sense regulations, like myself, I won't get rentals if I have a five day minimum. But if you say one per week, it solves that same issue of high turnover. COUNCILMAN FREER-Okay, we did discuss that but if you could just sign and if you want to come back, your time is up. MR. BENEDICT-Yes, fair enough. 9 p.m. quiet, non-refundable deposit. Why not allow greater latitude for people who are willing to set a higher bar? That's my point that I wanted to make. COUNCILMAN FREER-Thank you. CHRISTOPHER GREEN-My name is Christopher Green, I live on 7 Cherokee Lane and I want to pass this forward to you folks if you don't mind to begin. This is what I look at across the street from home in this Short Term Rental. This behavior has been going on for months. Mr. Dyer was over the other day and saw this and agreed unacceptable. So, they took their garbage and they threw it in the garage. He opened the door and he could see it himself. Apparently it's been cleaned up partially. There's two canisters, it started in the winter when they would rent it short term, they'd place them out by the street for the garbage to pick up. And they didn't make a contract with anyone so the cans sat out there, the plow has plowed them in. Oh, three weeks went by I think and somebody finally shoveled them out and placed them in front of the garage and left them with the bags hanging. I was very frustrated. I called the Town, I was here twice myself in person. They can do better that this. The lawns, as you see there, it looks abandoned and this the view directly across the street from me, I can't miss it. This is what I raked up that they left behind when they threw the bags in the garage because it blows into my property and I am tired of picking it up. We call. We came in person. They gave us contact information here to a dead number that was disconnected. Then, Mr. Dyer was good enough to call me the other day with a contact number. So I called them and asked them if they'd rake up the garbage that is blowing in my yard. They do not call back. These are some of the issues we're having with these people, that they are not following the guidelines of your written rules and there has to be some of sort of discipline for these businesses. I don't disagree that the Short Term Rentals are a great income for the community but there has to be a discipline for people that don't comply. And I don't care if you shut them down for thirty days, wouldn't it be nice to see a tape across the front porch, closed by Order of the Town of Queensbury for thirty days. If you hit them in the pocketbook,just like a speeding ticket, we all know it hurts. They will understand that and maybe they'll begin to comply and that's all I have to say. Thank you for your time, I will even take this with me. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-I was hoping you would do that. TIMOTHY TREMBLAY-Four minutes isn't even going to become close to what I need so I have written some of it down, if you would please. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Well and you're welcome to back to finish. MR. TREMBLAY-No,that's okay, you will get the gist of it. Can I ask you a question before I get started? How many Short Term Rentals do we have in the Town of Queensbury? COUNCILMAN FREER-We don't know. MR. TREMBLAY-Good question. Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 657 COUNCILMAN FREER-We're working on it. MR. TREMBLAY-As a resident, I am going to ask you why you don't know, you've already commented that. Consider requiring Short Term Rentals to register with the Town of Queensbury. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Would you identify yourself for the record. MR. TREMBLAY-Oh, Timothy Tremblay, 10 Cherokee Lane. I am right next door to that mess Chris was just talking about. I have two rentals adjacent to my property. One out back which is impeccable and this one that is next to us which is a disaster. So, anyways, consider maybe even an ordinance or not just an ordinance but the registration or a permitting process. It would bring them under your jurisdiction. It would also get you in a situation where you can go and inspect it, at least yearly. Under your proposed definition of Short Term Rentals, you've got thirty days in there, wonderful thing. Next door to me, we called, complained, got Code Enforcement over there, got a little bit of things rectified. Next thing you know, we've got eight different new CO's rented out for thirty-one days. It eliminates your jurisdiction with this over that Short Term Rental. Consider changing that, your definition add and or that is advertised for less than thirty-one says, for thirty days. I think that would rectify that. Under the notification of your person, the people that own the house next door to us at 8 Cherokee Lane, it's an entity. They're not available on holidays or weekends, they don't return your calls anyway but you'll end up leaving a message. They're going to play the game, we didn't get the complaint until Tuesday after the holiday weekend so how can we address it within the hour. I put some verbiage in there that I would really like you to take a look at. Okay, I won't go into it all but it basically says, let's do this in writing. And under your section of notification of the person, I would like to see it done in writing to the neighbors and with a copy to the Town so the Town has somebody to go back to. Because the number that was provided to us from the Town was a dead number, as Chris had said, it just didn't go anywhere. We did track it down. It's that, will buy your house for next to nothing signature homes, if anybody else is dealing with it and they do not respond. Under Code Enforcement and penalties, please, please give your Code Enforcement the ability to do something. Not just call them because I watched when they were supposed to have a meeting with somebody to show up at 8 Cherokee Lane, they didn't bother showing up to talk with them. Give them some sort of meat that they can use to shut them down until they do respond. As Chris said, hey we've got a complaint, let's take care of it. They don't take care of it within timely, put something across to shut them down. When their next customer shows up and cannot get in because it's shut down, it's going to affect their pocketbooks. It's not going to affect this gentleman because he's taking care of his business but these people who don't tend to business, it's going to shut them down in a heartbeat. Put some meat into it. Give them the authority to do that. Thank you. (Submittal on file in the Town Clerk's Office) JIM RAESLY-My name is Jim Raesly. I am actually discussing the same property that both Chris and Tim were just recently talking about and I am definitely in favor of the five day minimum and one hundred and twenty day. I also like the exception for in-home host owners. I have, like Tim mentioned in his back neighbor, my side neighbor because I am on that street behind him. It's been an Airbnb for nine years and has been impeccable because the host is actually in the house and rents the rooms out. And I think that's the idea of the whole bed and breakfast is, it allows a resident to have some income and manage and be there at the property. I am not for whole home STR's in a residential area because motels, hotels are not allowed in MDR's I understand in Queensbury, correct? A whole house rental is actually worse than a hotel in the sense that a hotel has a supervisor or manager there full time. We've had, as you've heard, we can't contact these people, I think they're about an hour away and so I've had to reach out because I am a Airbnb user. When we travel, I use Airbnb. I like it, I have nothing against it but not to residential areas. Now, I think the proposals here are good and I think they need to be implemented and it's a good start and I appreciate all of the work that you folks have done. But, in reality, it's basically a business behind it, it's a profit making business. The owners are not there, they're not even living next door. I wouldn't mind it if the owner was living next door and I think the exclusions kind of cover some of that. But, and again, a whole home somewhere else that isn't in a MDR zoned area. Yea, no problem. A mixed use? Fine but I think eventually we've got to get to a point where a profit making business is not in a neighborhood. That's my biggest thing. Like I said, I've had one next to me for nine years and now I got one on my backside here that's a whole house rental and it's night and day between the two. So, I don't even know how it got started in the sense of like whole house purchases. It's a business. It's Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 658 owned by a business. It's not owned by a person. It's always an LLC or something like that. That's a business in the neighborhood making money. Granted you can get bed tax and that sort of stuff but it's going to lower my property value in the sense I've got a rental behind me. Do I get a discount on my property rentals, I mean on my property because of that business in my neighborhood? It's just not right so that's what I have to say. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay, thank you. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Thank you for sharing with us your comments. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Next? COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Is there anyone else? FRED TROELSTRA-Good afternoon, Fred Troelstra and I am obviously a local resident, business owner. This whole concept is new to me. I'm grateful so far I'm not coming here with bags of garbage or stories of unhappiness because people have been in and out of neighboring houses. But that seems to be changing for me here pretty soon. I might be back with those kinds of stories because my neighbor is a Short Term Rental now but it hasn't, really hasn't operated yet. If you go online, it looks like he's promoting a resort and it is going to change the character of our neighborhood. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Sir, what's the address? Your address? MR. TROELSTRA-11 Honey Hollow. It's 13 Honey Hollow. My proposal would be to either shorten that one twenty or conversely make it a six month min rental. I would be okay to have, quote, unquote snowbird next to me. One he resides here for six months and six months somewhere else and then that, if someone would want to rent it for a period of six months. Or we write in, it's owner occupied. My whole, and my wife, we share this, we have two girls. I know all my neighbors and I know all of my neighbors' kid's names. I know what cars people drive. Honey Hollow is going to change because if there's fifty-two weeks of opportunity for people to rent that house,there's going to be fifty-two opportunities for different people to be coming into the neighborhood. That's my suggestion is, possibly to look at it at a minimum time to rent it. Thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Thank you. Anybody else for the first time? Yes sir, come right up. DAVE DESANTO-Good afternoon. Dave DeSanto, 31 Marley Way, Queensbury with the Adirondack Vacation Rental Association. We are a grassroots organization for responsible ownership and reasonable regulation. We're looking for a more targeted approach. We're opposed to this proposal and we think a more targeted approach will handle some of the issues I am hearing. I am going to make a couple of points, talk about a target approach and then just go over some data that I think is really good. Number one, share whatever data you have please where folks that are having a hard time. You know, what's the percentage and the ratio of substantiated, not alleged, of vacation rentals versus fulltime renters versus residents and what are those ratios. Members of the public should be treated the same irregardless of how long they are here for. Same nuisance rules. Same parking rules, etcetera. I have met some full time people you don't want to live next to. I think we all have. Penalize the issues, not everybody. Number two, even if you are opposed to vacation rentals, your property is going to be effected. This proposal reaches into the deeds of every property owner and alters it. So, even if you don't want to rent your property now, a future buyer or your heirs may want to. After all, we're all property owners in a vacation destination. Number three, this reduces the ability of Queensbury property owners to earn retirement income. With pensions being phased out, some folks can't stomach the market,people are trying to retire with dignity and this is the way that we can do it. I think the targeted approach would be, would solve a lot of the issues with everybody here. Don't discourage vacation rentals but rather impose sanctions, penalties, suspensions based on due process approach, upon actual violations of existing limitations. Weed out the sub-par owners and protect the quiet enjoyment of all. Handle the violators but protect those that comply. I bet you when folks get a violation and like someone else said, it starts hitting them in the pocket, they'll change their tune. Or you shut them down. Lastly, I want to live you with an article. I think no matter the side of the issue on, you could probably find some type of article that's for you but I thought this one was particularly good. It's from a Harvard Business Review, Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 659 it came outlast fall in November 17, 2021, `Restricting Rentals Reduces Development'. It was a large scale study. Decade's worth of rentals versus permanent applications in fifteen major metro areas and it looked at rentals. What kind of permit applications were coming in. Was the area developing? Were people building? Were they building new? Were they taking care of their properties and it took a look at three years before Short Term Rental regulations and three years after. And again, this is fifteen different cities so it's not just one, someone's opinion, it's a ten year study. Quote, `we conservatively estimate for the fifteen cities we studied, Short Term Rental restrictions reduced property values by a total of two point eight billion and tax revenues by forty million per year. Ultimately our research highlights the importance of taking a nuance approach to short term regulation. There are no easy answers but any effective solution will have to acknowledge the very real economic downsize of restricting what people can do on their property.' COUNCILMAN FREER-Thank you. MR. DESANTO-Thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Is there more you want to say? Do you want to come back? MR. DESANTO-I may want to. Thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Any first time? Yes, come on down. SUSAN LEPORIN-Hello, I am Susan LePorin, 122 Sunnyside North. I am definitely for the five day minimum and the one hundred and twenty days. Mainly the five day minimum. I think this is a very well thought out proposal. It took months and months to come up with. For me, it's been the weekend warriors that have been the problem and they're here generally from two to four nights. They've been the big problem. I can get into all of the disgusting behavior. For instance, passed out on the lawn vomiting during the middle of the day. I can't tell you how many times I have called the police. I mean, it's got to have at least have been least twenty-two times going over the years now and they can only go so far. So this proposal for a five night minimum is probably really going to help. We had a prominent realtor come to those committee meetings who right away said, `they don't have these problems on Lake George because they generally are doing the week or longer'. They just don't have the problems of weekend warriors and absentee landlords. I have to say that I agree with him one hundred percent cause that has been what the problem is, the absentee landlords. People that you can't get a hold of and these weekend warriors which include bachelor parties, bachelorette parties, kids. There was this one group there, I counted twenty-eight kids, probably I am going to guess about twenty percent of them were underage and they drank all night and all day for a week. But generally speaking, it's the weekend warriors so I am in full support of your new proposal and I thank you for your time. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Thank you and ... Sue was on part, she was one of the steadfast members of the committee that got together to work on this and we appreciated your input. KATELYN MOSKOS-Hi, my name is Katelyn Moskos, I am the owner of Northern Living which is a Short Term Vacation Rental outside of Lake George. I can honestly see both points, both sides of the story. My main point being if you have a responsible owner, you have a responsible renter so it really comes down to the owner. The weekend warriors, we do, we rent the weekends. We have bachelorette parties, however they are regulated because we are good hosts. The rules, the terms, the regulations, everything there is for them and if it's not, my husband is going there in two minutes in kicking everyone out and that rarely, rarely happens because we are so upfront with our rules and regulations. There should be two sets of rules. There should be rules for the good hosts with the good renters and there should be rules for the bad hosts that aren't present and don't set forth all of their rules. The good hosts are being penalized for people who are allowing these twenty-eight group of kids in there or not making sure they abide the quiet hours and respectful to neighbors. But the host like myself and my clients who have cameras and who are there, and everyone has our phone number and it's very publicized. We shouldn't be getting more rules because we're following the first rules because certain owners aren't following those rules, if that makes sense. So I just don't think that part is fair and the owners who are trying to rent are getting penalized based on the owners that are absent, absent hosts that live out of state and don't have eyes or ears on the properties up here. Those people I feel bad for. I feel bad for those neighbors that live next to an irresponsible host. Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 660 But like I said, somebody like us, I don't think it's fair that more rules keep being implemented when we are doing our best to keep the community together and keep the neighbors happy. And just going forward, I think what is good for one is good for all, for sure but I think if they break the rules then those second set of rules should be applied as opposed to what's applied to everyone. With that being said, whether short term or long term renters, you can have a bad renter or you can have a good renter and whether they stay two days, five days, seven days, thirty days, sixty days, if they are a bad renter, the longer the renter, the longer the problem, if they're bad. So, it doesn't necessarily, whether it's short term or long term. I think that's all I have. COUNCILMAN FREER-Thank you. MS. MOSKOS-Thank you. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay, thank you. Anybody present, first time? Because I am going to go to Zoom next. Yes, sir, if you want to come forward. And then after I do the Zoom and first time everybody, then we'll do a second round for people that have more to say. JAMES DOBKOWSKI-James Dobkowski, 8 Trails End. When I was younger I was in government and we stopped smoking outdoors. We outlawed Ephedra. We stood up for illegal aliens and it was not easy and I want to compliment everybody on this Board because standing up against an industry like Airbnb is not an easy thing to do. As far as the five day minimum, you know, if you need to stay for three days, be a little bit creative. Just lower your prices and people can leave after three days. The argument that people won't come because of short term rentals, the Economic Policy Institute did a study and ninety-eight percent of people use Airbnb and Vrbo will come to that area anyway. Cameras don't stop disturbances. You're not going to come to my house and tuck my kids into bed after they're woken up at ten o'clock at night. We worked really hard on this bill. I think you guys just need to stick with it. It's a good bill, it's a great compromise. I would like to see these things gone. In 2009 tourists homes were outlawed in Queensbury. So we kind of let them come back in with this STR bill. But I want to talk about the elephant in the room that everyone kind of ignores that was brought to our attention by the Warren County Sheriff's Department. Short Term Rentals are considered temporary housing. That means a sexual predator at any level can stay at that house for any extended period of time and do not have to report and not to tell law enforcement because if law enforcement finds out about them, they cannot make them leave. So Meghan's Law was created because parents have the right to know who's living next door. So as much as you have cameras and you do a great job, I have two kids that I am worried about strangers every day. I don't know who these people are and my host rents through Airbnb and he doesn't know who they are because they don't tell them. It's a name of one person and we can't even guarantee that that person is the person renting. The shooting in Pittsburgh where eight people were shot, they don't even know who's renting that house yet. And here's another thing that people don't talk about with Airbnb. Airbnb has a secret unit that they cover up all of their crimes. Now, if we had a company that paid millions of dollars to cover up crimes and to protect their brand and they want to move into Queensbury and your constituents say, where are they moving to? Route 149, Route 9 and you said, `no, they're moving into our backyards, into our residential neighborhoods. So, I get the local businesses who are doing a great job in making sure that all the people that are there have names and faces and they know who they are but the majority of the people who rent for Airbnb, they don't know who they are. And that as a parent is frightening, it's scary and it's disturbing. This bill is an awesome compromise. One twenty days, if you own your house and you're paying it for taxes, you can make the same in fifty-five days if you rent Short Term Rental that you could rent all year round. Fifty-five days. You can make the same amount of money on that house as if you rented it all year round. That's a great compromise, one twenty days. I just want you guys to hold the line and stick to it. I appreciate all the effort that everyone who's on the committee, Councilman McNulty, Councilman Freer. Supervisor Strough, you've always been great every time we've talked about this issue. I know it's not going to be easy. I know, probably Thursday, there's going to be a lot more people coming and I just want to thank you for everything you've been working on. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay thank you. Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 661 COUNCLMAN MCNULTY-And again ... Jim, Jen was a member of our committee as well. And you mentioned Thursday is our next meeting, the next public hearing will be at our Council meeting on the 27t'. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Anybody present, first time? Yes, ma'am, come forward. JENNIFER DOBKOWSKI-Good afternoon, I'm Jennifer Dobkowski at 8 Trails End. Thank you Supervisor Strough for reading my letter earlier. Just to give you a little background and I've spoken with many of you before and many people in the audience I know, I never had anything against Short Term Rentals. I've known several people who rent them out seem not to have any problems. They're good people, I like them. In 2015 we actually listed our home on Airbnb for the purposes of renting it out for some additional income. Later we pulled it, concerned about how guests were vetted. We didn't feel comfortable that we wouldn't know specifically who was renting our home and we were concerned about the safety of our community and neighborhood and disturbance to our neighbors so we opted not to do it. Then we learned that any business or activity which could pose an annoyance to others is prohibited by our deed restrictions as well. So we definitely didn't want to step on any one's toes or break any regulations. In 2019 the home next to me was sold to a motel resort operator who bought it to use it as a full-time year-round Airbnb. We were disappointed there wouldn't be a family next door for our kids to have friends to play with but we figured it wouldn't be much of a difference from our previous neighbor who did not have children. Things quickly went downhill. We tried to work with the host to minimize the disturbance his guests had on our family and on our neighborhood. Problems continued and they escalated. We looked for guidance with the Town and the community with other neighbors. We looked online. I spoke to somebody who told me, who had been a neighbor of an Airbnb out of the area, I was told that the host befriend you and then if you start to complain, they threaten you, then they try to sue you into bankruptcy and push you out of the neighborhood. I thought this was absolutely ridiculous. Subsequently, the Short Term Rental Law passed in 2020 which we were support of. In August of 2020, we received a letter from the lawyer of the LLC next door threatening us, among other things, not to bring any complaints to the Town, to Airbnb or any other channel. They held the position that the business was being unduly harassed and their financial interests were being put into jeopardy by our actions and if we continued they would bring us to court. The following month our kids were woken up two nights in a row. We did report them to the Town of Queensbury and ten days later, we were sued. Ever since, we've been a little hesitant to bring many of our complaints forward as our legal fees continue to this date to max. Article 1 of the STR law that was passed in 2020 says that Short Term Rentals are great as an additional source of income to Town residents. This is not what's happening in the property next door to us. Not a resident, it's somebody who does this in the hospitality industry. And the introduction to the Town Law of Article 1 also states it provides regulations to protect against the adverse effects of this while allowing other appropriate circumstances. It says short term and transient rentals can be incompatible with a sense of privacy, community, ambiance currently enjoyed in residential neighborhoods in the Town. We have lost all of that. I think the Lake George law which I really, and as full disclosure, I was on the committee as well, I never looked at the Lake George law until after the fact. They prohibit the grandfathering of short term rentals in cul de sacs or dead-end roads, where there is a certain level of peace and quiet and tranquility that they anticipate. I will come back for part two. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Oh, okay, thank you. Anybody present first time? Alright, we have somebody from Zoom. Alexis Taylor. ALEXIS TAYLOR-Thanks very much for having me. I thought that I would first start with, first of all, my name is Alexis Taylor Marrs and my husband is here, Kyle Marrs. KYLE MARRS-Hello. MS. TAYLOR MARRS-We are here to respond to our neighbor, Mark and Suzanne, hello. What they kindly didn't update the group on is that we are the new owners up there, the property that they passed photos of. The day I bought the property, my husband and I went, went to their home and actually personally introduced ourselves. We said hello, he came out screaming and also screamed at my father so it wasn't, it was a little bit of a rocky start but we were definitely interested in making our relationship good with them because we really love Queensbury and are here to make the area better, especially after growing up in the area. So, I just wanted to Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 662 comment on that and also comment on the huge upgrades we have made to the home which in turn has probably made their property upgraded also. So, I just wanted to start off also after that speaking towards Airbnb and the tourism it brings to the area. Making it a five day long term stay probably won't be the best idea. Before this, we had a year-long tenant in place which they also failed to mention because we didn't have very easy going on at our property and he was actually pretty volatile and very disrespectful to us as landlords and ever since starting Airbnb at our property, we've had lots of great families. No complaints from our neighbors who we've also provided phone numbers for and have welcomed so many amazing guests. Today we actually have an elderly couple checking in from New York who are just craving some ... And that's just twenty-nine percent of the uptake...? in tourism that Airbnb has brought into the area just this year. Airbnb actually announced that in the City of Queensbury Short Term Rental demand has gone up twenty-nine percent since last summer. So, that's twenty-nine percent of tourism coming to the area that we didn't have last year, after I know Queensbury has spent a lot of money on getting tourists to the area. So that's pretty impressive. I'll take it over to my husband to speak. MR. MARRS-I think, and gentlemen, hello, thanks for holding this today and hearing us out. Another gentleman came up and talked about fairness and kind of due process of creating all properties somewhat similar in a way of regulations and rules and laws. I don't think we've seen, in general from Queensbury, the complaints, the amount of complaints from all types of properties relative to Short Term Rentals versus Long Term Rentals versus his neighbor, his neighborhood conduct which really I hope is driving some of this. But without that information, or having actual data showing that, it's just unclear and I don't really understand how these restrictions are being considered and thought about. There's often means and methods of enacting restrictions. Noise regulations, you know, quiet hours, there's other items like that as well. Parking is another one too but it's kind of going above and beyond that, restricting use of one's property which again, I am not sure again this how this came about and the reasons and what the outcome going to be. But, that would be good to at least have the people of Queensbury property owners sort of understand decisions and what the outcome is supposed to be. Someone to actually, kind of check against down the road, actually work and does not work. There's definitely economic value to the city in tax revenue, etcetera through short term rentals. I am not sure if we're trying to regulate that in any other taxes. It's a point that this is not going to be perceived in the future through other economic development means. So, anyway, it just seems like some of these things, there's been a past three or four of these hearings, we've mostly heard positive feedback. With today, one time, you know the meeting is also at one-thirty which a lot of working people have jobs, they can't always make these things. Not happy they're actually not during after, you know, late in the afternoon or early evening so more people can join. So, it's just from that kind of standpoint, we've heard a lot of positive reviews from folks, we've heard some negative email, one or two and two or three negative comments today. But there's also been a lot of public positivity as well. So, I am not sure if this is a onetime thing where we've heard a few negative comments and a lot of positive comments because we don't have that data and it's just not clear and having an earlier meeting during working hours it just kind of seems like we're not trying to hear everyone out. So, anyway, that's my two cents. If we get more information, and actually why other means and methods haven't been considered instead of kind of proposing or trying to impose these harsher restrictions. That will be very helpful for us to understand. At least, you know can see the other side on these restrictions being imposed on our right to use our properties. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay, thank you. JENNI RYAN-Okay, I had a whole beautiful thing planned but my daughter decided to wake up so I will be short and sweet. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Your name please. MS. RYAN-My name is Jenni Ryan, I live at 8 Hall Road Extension, Glen Lake. I am from Fort Ann, I grew up on Lake George, I spent my whole life there and then married my husband who is a football coach so we move around a lot. Unfortunately we are not able to live in upstate New York anymore, I am in Charlotte but I wish I could be there in person. I just quickly want to say that I am opposed because we just started renting our house out this year through Northern Living and I can't say enough great things about Northern Living. Because I feel like the moment we decided to maybe tip our toes into renting, Katelyn provided every detail that like we Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 663 would know about. Septic tanks and just things that, you know, I guess if you would rent. I don't know how Airbnb works if they, but she came to the property and went through everything with us and we felt very comfortable. My sister manages the property with Katelyn and they live less than ten minutes away and we've only had positive experiences. I have been hearing some negative ones today and that's unfortunate. We have had family reunions. And I also just want to point out something. I know people are really terrified of having, you know losing their neighbors, the neighborly love. On growing up on the lake and I did have that on Lake George. On Glen Lake, I certainly love my neighbors, they're great, we talk all of the time but for me, I am giving experiences from having my family there. We hosted a wedding there. We had my daughter's birthday party there. So I am just, you know,just trying to voice my opinion about proposing, especially the five day minimum. I know we get a lot of ski renters and, but again, I just want to say thank you to Katelyn and Northern Living because she does that. We have rules that we made ourselves. Like I don't want a bunch of college kids there. We have an age limit set on the amount of, you know, an age limit set like we don't allow twenty-one year olds. I don't want a group of men there. No offense to all of the men there. I would prefer, you know, the women there. I just feel like we're trying to do the best we can with renting within a reason. We spend our whole summer there. Actually I just had twin girls or I would be up there now. They're in the NICU but the moment they're out, we are driving up and spending our whole summer of the end of June, July and August and I cannot wait to be by my family. But,the off season we do tend to rent it and it's been doing pretty well. But I just, you know I am mumbling because everything I wanted to say, I just left the paper next to my daughter so I am over here trying to get away from her. But I appreciate everyone just coming together, trying to talk about this and hopefully we can come together and figure out some ways that kind of fit everyone fairly. I guess that's a good word to end with,just trying to be fair. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay. COUNCILMAN FREER-Thank you. MS. RYAN-Thank you so much. I am going to mute myself so you don't hear my daughter screaming. TRAVIS WHITEHEAD-Travis Whitehead, I live in Queensbury. It seems to be the consensus that a few bad apples here are wrecking it for an awful lot of people and I think those people would agree with that statement. But those few bad experiences are very bad experiences and I could find them untenable if I were in the position of, you know being a neighbor and subject to that, even occasionally being in a residential neighborhood. Now, one of the owners even suggested that, if he was aware of that situation, he would call the police on his own volition to try and go ahead and take care of that because his renters were being a nuisance. The problem with that is, unless I've missed something, the Town of Queensbury still has not enacted nuisance laws and this is something that has been on the docket a decade that I know of but hasn't moved very far with it. Again, that I am aware of. Correct me if I am wrong but it's my experience from problems I've had with fireworks and stuff like that,that if you do call the police, the first thing they'll tell you is there's nothing they can do because the Town hasn't given them the tools to do anything with. There is no noise ordinances, there are no curfews or quiet hours or anything else and they will basically tell you there's nothing we can do. I don't know if that's changed but I do believe that if you want this whole thing to work and you will still have some of these problems from time to time, you do have to give those tools out to police enforcement so that they can actually do something about that. So, I would encourage you to look at the nuisance law again rather than, in addition to what you're trying to do here with short term rentals. That's all I have to say. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Thank you. COUNCILLMAN MCNULTY-Thanks Travis. I see no other hands. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay, second time, anybody here? Yes sir, come forward. Please reintroduce yourself for the record. MR. WOODHOUSE-John Woodhouse, reside here in Queensbury. I just had a few questions about,the first thing is, I think we've seen three or four people that spoke this afternoon that Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 664 were on the committee and it seemed like every one of those were, they had negative experiences. Was there anyone part of the committee that was a STR operator or? COUNCILMAN FREER-Yes. MR. WOODHOUSE-Yes? COUNCILMAN FREER-Yes. MR. WOODHOUSE-Okay. COUNCILMAN FREER-He's back there, there were others. The Undersheriff attended all of our meetings and we had a realtor that was involved in managing Short Term Rentals. MR. WOODHOUSE-Okay, so individuals that were supportive of STRs in general? COUNCILMAN FREER-Right. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-But we also had advertised this committee for three months so it was publicized at these meetings that anyone could participate. MR. WOODHOUSE-So again, as an operator, I'm not up in arms about anything, because I'm just going about my business but when it came to my radar that I responded and wanted to have a voice and certainly would like to continue to do that. My other concern about achieving these outcomes of having peaceable neighborhoods is how does enforcements and a permit process not achieve that? I mean, if you're getting particular individuals, operators that are not managing their property. Because I don't think it's actually a Short Term Rental problem primarily because we do Short Term Rental very effectively and none of our neighbors are concerned but, so it's a management problem. COUNCILMAN FREER-We did discuss permitting and that's just another burden on others. You can look at the way North Elba, Lake Placid, they have a pretty comprehensive Short Term Rental and it's an imposition on owners. The other thing, and yea so we did look at a lot of that. MR. WOODHOUSE-Okay. So you don't have an enforcement strategy that can just target the bad operators? COUNCILMAN FREER-Well we have an enforcement strategy that we tightened up in this new proposal. MR. WOODHOUSE-So that enforcement strategy alone without the five day minimum and the one hundred and twenty day restriction, wouldn't enforcement, targeted enforcement like that bring these situations under control? COUNCILMAN FREER-If you could wait around, I am going to make some comments after we get through whoever else has a second comment. MR. WOODHOUSE-Okay. COUNCILMAN FREER-But it's specifically the five day minimum, I think we have a solution that many people will be happy with and that's a seasonal only five day solution that we've gotten input on. MR. WOODHOUSE-Okay. COUNCILMAN FREER-I personally support limiting the five days just from May 15th to September 15t'. MR. WOODHOUSE-I can, and I can certainly understand the support of that. What I just want to make clear is from an operator's perspective, it seems like those two combined, the only outcome and purpose would be to basically shut down. Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 665 COUNCILMAN FREER-No, we're trying to discourage LLC's from Long Island coming and buying three or four and using them 365 a year which is happening in the North Country. MR. WOODHOUSE-So what about an operator like myself who wants to use it 365 days a year but in an effective, you know local way, as an appropriate operation? COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Harrison, I think the intent of this meeting is to hear your comments. COUNCILMAN FREER-I apologize. MR. WOODHOUSE-Yea, I am trying to understand what is, you know, what are the options as an operator and effect of that upon myself. So, I will leave at that. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay, thanks. Yes sir, back there and then the gray shirt fellow will be next. Please reintroduce yourself for the record. MR. TREMBLAY-Absolutely. Timothy Tremblay, 10 Cherokee Lane. Question for you. On the weekends and the holiday weekends, who do we call when we're having violations of eight vehicles parked out front of cars, or our houses or there's one of the violations is being not adhered to, who do we reach out to? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Building and Codes here at Town. MR. TREMBLAY-And what number in Building and Codes is answered on a weekend and the holiday? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I don't have that number but we can get you that number. MR. TREMBLAY-Okay that's great but is someone going to answer? I guess that's really what I'm answering, I mean questioning. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Yes. MR. TREMBLAY-So, you're going to have somebody that can come verify that this, these violations are occurring? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Yes. MR. TREMBLAY-Because the Sheriff's Department will not respond to them. They don't enforce local laws or ordinances. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-We pay a stipend to our Code Enforcement Officer, Director for just that purpose. MR. TREMBLAY-Okay, very good. Thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Anybody else present second time? Yes sir. Please reintroduce yourself for the record. MR. BENEDICT-Dwight Benedict at 13 Honey Hollow. I notice there's a common denominator in the testimony that has been offered and one thing I'm really grateful about is that everyone seems to be respectful and that's wonderful, especially in these contentious times. But the common denominator that I see is that, someone that has a bad experience, they're saying, `oh look and this happens again and again and this happens and they're puking and they're peeing', all of this. And then the other common denominator is the host that are doing a good job seem to have great track records. So, I implore the committee to think about how they can solve the issue of having peaceful neighbors with not infringing upon the ability for those who are doing Short Term Rentals in a very, very wonderful way to allow that to occur. I don't know how many people who have maybe against or are against the idea of Short Term Rentals who have actually gone and done, use them themselves. But I know, you go to Europe, you go wherever you might want to go and if you as a Short Term Rental, if you go as an Airbnb and Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 666 then you can stay in a place like, we were in the outskirts of Paris and we were in a beautiful little neighborhood and you get that vibe which is wonderful. You get to hang out with family and friends in a way that is very much more difficult than when you are all grouped together, and you know, every meal is in a restaurant. It's just not the same as being able to sit back and relax and enjoy one another's company. Queensbury is such a beautiful wonderful place. It's so close to so many incredible wonderful things. I beg those people who have, this maybe visceral knee- jerk and I think a fear based idea of what an Airbnb can be, is. I implore them to think about it and say, `hey, did I go to an Airbnb'? `How is it, how was my experience on that side'? And also, to listen to those who are here, who are saying, `please listen to me, I am a responsible host'. I know myself, I have levels of expectations that are well beyond what the average ordinary citizen. You know, you don't have these expectations that, or rules and regulations, or a neighbor who just happens to move in, either a long term rental or someone that moves into you, moves as a next door neighbor. You could have a horrible situation that you're stuck with. If you have someone who's operating or renting out their place on occasion and they're doing a beautiful job with it, it's like they're an ambassador to this beautiful wonderful place that we have here in Queensbury. So, and I feel really bad for those people who have had negative experiences. But once again, if you do what I do, I have everyone sign a separate contract with me, even whether it's through Airbnb or try to redirect people to a private, I talk to everyone before they rent. Airbnb has a no-worry, you can cancel anyone if you have any little inkling, something doesn't smell right. If you have a noise meter on the premises. If you say look this is a wonderful quite neighborhood, there are expectations of quiet times starting at nine o'clock or nine-thirty, you have to turn down the volume. No outdoor speakers allowed. A deposit that is non-refundable if they break certain rules. Any entire guest list that must be provided. When you set those expectations and those regulations for people, guess what? Those people who are going to start peeing and puking and all of that and staying up until four o'clock in the morning, they're going to look elsewhere. So,please, please consider having a tiered approach where if you're someone who, I can tell, you can tell the people who do, do this type of thing ethically, you can tell that there not going to be the people causing the neighborhood to decline. Thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Thank you. Anybody else a second time? MR. TROELSTRA-Fred Troelstra again. I think the Board has to look at the big picture. There is the example of Lake Placid where, from my understanding, the Short Term Rentals has created quite a problem up there for local residents to be able to afford to buy a house. Any Short Term Rentals, any home that came on the market,the LLC's came up from downstate or wherever and purchased them. So, it kind of created a problem for people to be able to afford homes in Lake Placid. That's my understanding. I have very limited knowledge or experience with that up there but from what I did discover, it appears that the problem stems from people being able to purchase these homes for Short Term Rentals, being able to make more money off of that. My point is, are we, if we're not careful, that could happen here in Queensbury. That it's looked as a community that has a lot to offer and they're homes that become available, all get snapped up as Short Term Rentals, it could push out the local person who would want to buy. Thank you. SUPERVSIOR STROUGH-Thank you. Anybody else present? Yes, ma'am come on up. SUSAN SIPLON-Fist time. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-First time. Alright, well introduce yourself please. MS. SIPLON-I am a Susan Siplon and I have been running a property in Queensbury successfully and very joyously for a couple of years and it has been complaint free in a lovely neighborhood. I've also been running Airbnb's for about ten years before people had even heard about it down in North Carolina. I started doing that for neighbors and for different small houses and successfully. Complaints were not happening because I did the same as the other successful host here and I was very on top of things. I am very present with the guests and I am very present with rules, regulations and vetting guests who come. I say no to probably every other request to book my property here and I could accept them all and get more guests but I don't accept big parties, no events, anything like that. I do believe that there should be regulations and it should be based on behaviors and same kinds of concepts that we've been talking about here of not punishing the successful and very good hosts and going to punishments and regulations against those who do have issues. That's all I have to say and I appreciate your time. Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 667 SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay, thank you. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Anybody else present? First time, second time, third time? Anybody on Zoom that would like to go again? COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-John. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Oh, Jim. Alright, well Alexis Taylor still has her hand up so if she wants to speak again, I will get to you in a minute. Okay, go ahead and please reintroduce yourself. MR. DOBKOWSKI-I just have a couple of quick comments when you're listening. As far as contacting the Town, I mean, we're pretty much the face of anti-Short Term Rentals in Queensbury and is, unless I knew of going on, I wouldn't know how to contact. So when you call phone directory, it doesn't mention that John O'Brien is the person to contact for Short Term Rentals and maybe that should be a change. If you look at Lake Placid, it jumps out right away who to contact, you know how to do it so maybe that can be some of those improvements. And I think, you know I feel bad for some of these people that have made these investments. I said it the other night, I have a huge investment in my home, their names are Matthew and Luke and you're putting strangers into our neighborhood. That's the bottom line. Right? So, and it's a business. I really recommend that you just read the Town Ordinance, it's very clear what you can and can't do. So all this stuff, it's my property, I have all these rights to do it. There's thousands, there's thirteen businesses that are outlawed in the Town of Queensbury. Boarding houses, outlawed. Tourist Homes, outlawed. So this STR is giving people an opportunity to kind of make some money in residential neighborhoods where businesses are not supposed to be. So, we're not doing this out of fear. We're doing this to protect our children. Our host does everything correct, cameras, notifies his guests and stuff like that. It's the underlining I'm suing you. Right and then when I want to settle, I want to buy your house. So all these STR owners really want to start policing themselves. Help us out. We're twenty grand in debt. We're going to have an eighteen thousand dollar bill this summer, our lawyers have already told us that. Right? So, if you really want to support your community and say, `hey, there's some bad people out there and I don't want them in my industry', come talk to me and my wife when everything is over. Say, `how can we help you guys out'? Because that would be the best thing for the industry is that the STR owners and the neighbors start working together because government can't do everything. You can't weed out everybody. You can't weed that guy who's living next door who does everything on paper right but you can't stop him from suing us. You can't stop him from trying to push us out of our neighborhood and that's what's happening. So if you think we're here and we're just trying to put you out of business, your industry is trying to push us out of our neighborhood. I think that's a lot worse than us coming to compromise then saying, `hey, yea, alright, you could stay and do some business', which was outlawed in 2009, `for a hundred and twenty days'. So if you're sitting in the back, anyone in the industry that wants to come and talk to us and maybe we can come up with some type of understanding. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay, thank you. Alexis still has her hand up. MS. TAYLOR-I already spoke, thank you. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-She's good John. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Alright, anybody else on Zoom wish to speak again? Alright, yea, Jennifer. I just want to remind folks that the public hearing is going to remain open. You can write to us, email us. Also on the June 27th we're going to have a carryon of this public hearing and you can come and speak again if you wish. MS. DOBKOWSKI-Thank you, Jennifer Dobkowski again. And again, I do want to thank everybody on the Town, everyone who served on the Advisory Board. I want to thank everyone putting forth the limitation of one hundred and twenty days and the five day limit. I would push to have that limit be year-round for somebody who lives on a ski slope. I've seen people slide down the hill. People who don't know how to navigate in ice and snow and given all of the Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 668 problems we've been having. Guests where the short term renters are going to be in the winter, probably on the ski slopes so the weekend, in Friday, out Sunday, that's going to be us. So, I would ask that that, since we know that we shouldn't have businesses in residential zones. There are zones in Queensbury where it's appropriate, I would ask that that five day limit go to the entire year. Now, as my husband had said, there are a lot of limits to what businesses can be done in residential neighborhoods and my understanding is that to maintain the safety, peace and quiet, tranquility that us residents of Queensbury have come to enjoy and expect. So, Tourist Homes were outlawed for a reason. I am hoping that we can, you know limit these so that residents can make some additional income but not harm the full-time year-round residents. Just in researching some properties near my home, the vast majority of the Short Term Rentals that I found are in violation of some, if not many laws and regulations. Most aren't collecting occupancy tax. Most of the hosts, they aren't local, they invest in several properties. Those are now unavailable for families locally to live in who are part of the community. Some listings allow over sixteen people in a legal three bedroom home. Imagine if you're next door to that. That's not fair to the community. It's not fair to the neighbors. You can't hide sixteen people in your typical neighborhood in Queensbury. Perhaps on larger lots, that's a different issue. And we often hear that the benefit to having Short Term Rentals in our community is the four percent occupancy tax which is supposed to be collected. And I know there are responsible hosts, there are some in this room who do see to it that the properties are registered and collecting the correct taxes. However, my question is, at what cost? What is the cost to our community? I am a mother. I'm a member of this community. I worship in this community. I care about other families in Queensbury. In the past three years across the country there've been over two hundred forty-five shootings at Airbnb properties. Neighborhood watches are now obsolete because anonymous strangers are invited in often without the knowledge of surrounding neighbors. My family and many others have been robbed of privacy. Have been robbed of the beautiful look of their homes. We've seen photographs of things being left in disrepair, overgrown, garbage, disrespect for the neighbors. If you have a long term neighbor, you can have a conversation with them and address whatever issue. But when it's a constant turnover or an out-of-state host or manager, it just doesn't happen. Our safety should be the number one priority. We get the four percent tax but I've called the police on several occasions in the last month. The police have been called on me by guests who were disturbed by my reporting their drone over my house when my kids were in bed. There's an increase toll one Town workers. We now pay a stipend, as well we should, for monitoring these properties. Almost done. In just three days ago in Rochester, New York,there was a sixteen year old girl who was shot at an Airbnb and so is it worth it? What is it costing us? We have left families because there's more of these homes being used as rentals and as a mother, I am afraid every day because I don't know who is coming next door. So again, thank you for strengthening this law. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay, thank you. Anybody else? Alright, I will leave the public hearing open and we'll carry it on. You can email us or write us or call us. I'd rather have it publicly known your thoughts. We had a lot of good ideas. I appreciate everyone's thoughts and thank you for sharing them with us tonight. It will be very helpful to us as we move forward. COUNCILMAN FREER-I kind of say, the feedback that we got from many regards, it has to do with the five day minimum and I believe, I currently support five day minimum in the prime season only. And the reason that makes sense to me is that many of the hotel rooms actually close down in the winter and so availability becomes a real issue for ice castle events, etcetera and that the chances of loud outdoor goings on in the winter is less. So, I'm sure it won't be perfect but I think that's a reasonable input from many different sources that I've discussed this with. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-And still up for discussion because the Board hasn't voted on any of this yet. Again, I appreciate the input. We are concerned about property owners' rights as we are the neighbors' rights. It is going to be some tough calls. People are not going to be happy. Some people aren't, some people are. That's unfortunately the kind of democracy we live in but we want to get your input. It does matter. I've taken notes. We've all taken different notes on how we go forward with this. We'll have another, the next meeting on the 27t'to hear your input, hopefully and there was a comment made about, I think it was Alex's wife, Alexis is the wife, excuse me, the husband that we were doing this at three o'clock. Well the next meeting is at seven o'clock so we thought to give you an opportunity to have people come in the afternoon who might not be able to come at night and we get our hands slapped for that. So, we'll have it at the seven o'clock meeting next time because we do want to hear but it's your input and our Special Town Board Meeting, 06-08-2022, MTG#16 669 discussions with other members of the community that will lead us to how we vote on this resolution, as it is or if it's amended. So thanks for your input. DISCUSSION ITEMS: • EDC Contract Renewal and EDC Updates ■ Jim Siplon, President o 2 handouts —EDC Queensbury Update, Demographic Drought(on file) • 250th Anniversary—Revolutionary War ■ John Berry, Town Historian • Interview for ZBA Alternate ■ Richard Cipperly • Northern County Arts ■ Councilman Freer spoke on behalf of Jackie Touba, Delorus Thompson, and Judith Tully RESOLUTION ADJOURNING SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING RESOLUTION NO.: 220, 2022 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Anthony Metivier WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Timothy McNulty RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns its Special Town Board Meeting. Duly adopted this 8fh day of June, 2022, by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Strough, Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. McNulty NOES: None ABSENT: Mr. Ferone Respectfully Submitted, CAROLINE H. BARBER, RMC TOWN CLERK TOWN OF QUEENSBURY