Board also approves annual budget and announces end of LL Bean Outdoor Discovery School in Lakeland Park
By Jason Emerson
Airbnbs may soon be prohibited within the village of Cazenovia.
After receiving complaints from Airbnb neighbors in the village and looking into the issue of more strictly regulating the increasingly popular rental service, the board discussed the issue at its April 2 monthly meeting and scheduled a public hearing on it for May 7 to get resident input.
While all options are currently on the table, the board is looking at following the lead — and mirroring the law — of Skaneateles, which banned Airbnbs from its village in 2015.
“I feel this is not a good fit in historic residential neighborhoods in a historic village,” said Mayor Kurt Wheeler. “The more I have learned about it the more concerned I have become.”
“Airbnb” is an online community marketplace that allows people to rent 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: Airbnbs 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 not mentioned in the village code, and are viewed by the village board as being outside current zoning laws, which is what the board is now working to address, Wheeler said.
Airbnbs are prohibited in the Town of Cazenovia, a regulation the town board recently affirmed when approached by some town residents with complaints over a neighboring home renting rooms using the Airbnb website.
Some village residents also have been complaining lately about neighbors who rent their homes through Airbnb, with complaints about parking, barking dogs, strange neighbors and other issues. Wheeler said he has talked to three village residents with complaints, including resident Lynn Storman, who voiced her concerns at the board’s April 3 meeting.
“I don’t want to live this way; it’s a chronic stresser,” she said. “It’s a big, intense problem.”
The board discussed the possibility of allowing Airbnbs in the village but crafting strict regulations on them, but all agreed that enforcing such regulations would be “difficult” and “onerous” on the village codes enforcement officer and on the neighbors.
Village Attorney Jim Stokes said it would be “fairly simple” to write up a proposed law prohibiting Airbnbs in the village, based on the Skaneateles law model.
The board agreed that it wanted resident input before any decisions were made and scheduled a public hearing on the issue to be held at 7 p.m. Monday, May 7, at the start of the next regular village board meeting. Based on the input, the board will decide whether it should move forward with an Airbnb prohibition or not, Wheeler said.
Also at the meeting, the board:
•Unanimously approved the 2018-19 village budget. The $2.9 million budget is up 7.1 percent from last year’s budget, although the majority of that increase is because of the need to include funding for fire department equipment replacement, Wheeler said. The village tax rate will be $5.98 per every $1,000 of assessed value — an increase of 1 percent increase from last year. “I think this is a responsible budget to the taxpayers and to the residents who expect services,” Wheeler said previously. “I feel really good about it.”
•Announced that outdoor apparel store LL Bean has canceled its contract with the village to host the LL Bean Outdoor Discovery School at Lakeland Park. Outdoor Discovery Schools offer demonstrations, clinics and introductory hands-on activities for LL Bean customers such as kayaking, fly casting, archery, biking and canoeing. LL Bean’s Fayetteville store has held its school in Cazenovia since 2013, offering mainly kayaking and winter snowshoeing classes.
The company recently decided to reorganize its Outdoor Discovery Schools to be run by region rather than by store, and the Fayetteville store’s school will now be run out of the Albany district, said Trustee Amy Mann, who received the news from LL Bean. “They said they enjoyed their relationship with us,” she said.
•Approved an increase in bulk purchase water rates from $3.10 per 1,000 gallons to $4.25 per 1,000 gallons. The increase, which is effective immediately, will not affect regular resident water customers but only outside water haulers.
•Scheduled a public hearing to discuss a proposed change in the village code to allow electronic “copy change signs” in the village as long as they are not visible from the street. Copy change signs are signs that electronically change or scroll text. Such signs are prohibited under the village code. McDonald’s on Route 20 has requested the code change because all McDonald’s drive-thru signs are now copy change signs. The public hearing is schedule for 7:05 p.m. Monday, May 7, in the village board room.
