Moratorium on B&B’s in the town also sought by town residents

By Jason Emerson

editor

Cazenovia residents have asked the town board to pass a moratorium on licensing any new bed and breakfasts in the town, and to create a board of ethics to review the conduct of the town Zoning Board of Appeals during a December meeting.

The requests came from residents of a Charles Road neighborhood in which one couple on their street was illegally operating an Airbnb business and, after being informed of their code violations, the couple applied for a license to operate a regular B&B out of their home. The complaining neighbors feel a business should not be allowed in their residential neighborhood, and that a ZBA decision to reject the B&B application, followed within minutes by a second vote and sudden conditional approval of the petition, was unethical.

“We ask for a moratorium because of our concerns over neighborhood impact on safety, security and real estate values,” said Stuart Wright at the town board’s Jan. 8 regular monthly meeting. “We are very concerned about this … and [bed and breakfasts] are a greater issue that concerns all of Cazenovia.”

“We have no idea who is coming or going [in our neighborhood],” said neighbor Nate Hoak. “Everyone on our street is concerned.”

For their part, Barton and Sarah Feinberg, who have filed for the bed and breakfast operation permit, said during ZBA meetings that they never intended to upset their neighbors or make them feel unsafe, and they have said they are willing to abide by reasonable limitations to their B&B operation.

Airbnb is an online community marketplace that allows people to rent or sell lodging. Users post spaces available for rent — often their own homes — and Airbnb allows customers to rent out those spaces on short-term bases.

There are many differences between a traditional bed and breakfast and an Airbnb: Airbnb’s typically do not provide a breakfast, you are staying in someone’s living space so drawers and cabinets may not be empty for your use, and Airbnb providers typically are not at home when they rent out their living spaces. Airbnbs also are not subject to the same permitting and taxation requirements as traditional bed and breakfasts, which bed and breakfast owners find unfair, and many municipalities dislike because they lose out on occupancy taxes.

Airbnbs are illegal in the town of Cazenovia, while bed and breakfasts are legal to open in residential areas with the acquisition of a special use permit.

“Airbnbs are illegal as far as I’m concerned,” said Cazenovia Town Attorney John Langey during a January town board meeting. “This board has taken that up and is aggressively going to address it.”

The Cazenovia town board was already looking into the Airbnb issue and preparing to form a study committee on it when the Charles Road residents appeared before the board on Jan. 8 to request the moratorium, Langey said.

There are currently at least four Cazenovia houses listed for rental on the Airbnb website.

“Every town is coming to grips with this because it is a new marketplace,” said Supervisor Bill Zupan. “Roger Cook [town codes enforcement officer] is looking at anyone on the Airbnb website and sending them notices.”

According to ZBA documents, the Feinbergs started their Airbnb on Charles Road in February 2017. After neighbors complained about this use to the town, Cook issued the Feinbergs a code violation notice. The Feinbergs then applied to the town for a special use permit to run a traditional bed and breakfast out of their home. The ZBA discussed the application at its November and December meetings.

Some of the Feinberg’s neighbors appeared at both ZBA meetings and submitted letters to the board opposing the special use permit, citing their concerns about safety, security, real estate values and allowing a commercial business in a residential area.

According to the ZBA meeting minutes from Dec. 18, after more than one hour of public comment on the Feinberg’s permit application, the board voted 3-2 to reject the permit. Member Gary Mason then said his only concern about the project was an issue raised about the suitability of the home’s sceptic system. Board Chair Michael Palmer said they could make the verification of an adequate sceptic system a condition of the permit approval, after which Gene Smith made a motion for a new vote. The permit was then approved 3-2.

Wright asked the town board for a bed and breakfast moratorium and for an ethics investigation at the board’s Jan. 8 meeting because he felt the ZBA decision not only ignored neighbors concerns, but was unethically handled.

Town Attorney Langey, who serves as an attorney for multiple municipalities, and Supervisor Zupan, who was the Cazenovia ZBA chair for many years before joining the town board, both said they had never heard of a ZBA taking a vote, changing their minds then immediately re-voting and changing the outcome.

Once the town board receives a written request for the moratorium and the ethics investigation, it will begin looking into it, said both Zupan and Langey. In the meantime, Langey said he will begin examining the facts and circumstances regarding the complaints so he can advise the board as necessary.

If the town board decides to issue a moratorium on bed and breakfasts in the town, it must pass a local law to do so, Langey said.

If the board decides to pursue the ethics complaint, it must appoint a three-person committee to investigate the complaint. That committee will then issue a report with its findings, and could recommend to remove the town official or employee in question, Langey said.