Orangetown To Hold Hearing On Bill Outlawing Short-Term Rentals

ORANGETOWN, NY — Orangetown may join Clarkstown and Stony Point to prohibit short-term rentals of residential dwellings in town.

The town board will hold a public hearing Tuesday on its bill to prevent dwelling units in residential areas from being rented or leased, or otherwise allowed to be occupied, for a period of time that is less than 30 consecutive days.

The term "short-term rental" does not include hotel or motel rooms, or month-to-month tenancies in dwelling units authorized in a Town Zoning District for that purpose.

Problems with the practice were highlighted by a shooting incident in Clarkstown in January at a New City house that had been rented through Airbnb, but have festered in Orangetown for years.

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In the draft of a local law, town officials said they recognize that there are rising concerns, and documented instances, that certain residential properties located in residential Zoning Districts within the unincorporated sections of the Town are being inappropriately used as short-term, income potential generating, commercial-like rental related use and/or other non-residential business purposes, to the detriment of the health, safety and welfare of neighboring property owners and the public at large, and also, at times, in violation of the existing regulations of Chapter 43 (Zoning) of the Orangetown Code. Some of these rental related uses have included large parties, and similar gatherings, that have posed public safety concerns, contributed to excessive vehicle traffic and parking problems, as well as created an excessive amount of noise, disturbance and other disorder not compatible with the purposes of a residentially zoned neighborhood.

They also said short-term rental use of residential property promotes or encourages the deterioration of residential housing stock.

The town would impose "substantial monetary and other penalties" against those who do not use residential property for the residential purpose that the Zoning Code was designed to promote and protect.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Orangetown Town Hall.