By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
Homeowners have been renting out their properties to vacationers via Airbnb since 2008, but local laws are only just beginning to catch up to the trendy vacation rental app. In the town of Cicero, the issue of regulating short-term vacation rentals has driven a wedge between two Bridgeport neighbors.
Daniela Chobor, a dentist who lives in Manlius, owns a home on Kneeskern Road in Bridgeport. She decided to rent the home on Airbnb to pay for repairs to the house and supplement her income while she is on medical leave from her job.
Robert Klei, who lives next door to Chobor’s property on Kneeskern Road with his wife and children, said Chobor’s guests have disrupted their “little piece of heaven” on Chittenango Creek.
“To say the summer was ruined was an understatement,” Klei said.
He has called police on Chobor’s guests three times because of loud noises, music, public drinking and drug use, and trespassing. Klei said some of these visitors — whose cars sport license plates not just from New York but also Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Canada — have used foul language against him and his family, urinated on his lawn, and traipsed through the neighborhood with flashlights in the middle of the night.
“There’s been fireworks debris in the yard, which we had to clean up quickly before the dog ate it,” Klei said.
Neighbors have become so uncomfortable with the influx of visitors that they are reluctant to let their children play outside, Klei said.
“That’s a hard thing when the kids want to play,” Klei said.
Klei has erected signs on his property facing Chobor’s house making sure her guests know they are not welcome in the neighborhood. In response, Chobor has written a letter to Cicero town board complaining about Klei’s behavior toward her and her guests.
“I tried to raise the price to weed out some of the college kids. I needed to pay for the repairs to my home,” Chobor said.
In July, Klei filed a complaint with the town of Cicero’s code enforcement office. Chobor has been charged with violating Section 210-11 of the town code: “Conducting a use prohibited in R-10 Zoning District.” According to the town code, the permitted uses in residential zones are as follows: one-family residence, enclosed accessory building use, and private garages. R-M districts allow two-family dwellings and townhouses.
The penalties for code violations begin at $350 or 15 days imprisonment for a first offense.
“The whole purpose of codes enforcement is compliance, not punishment,” Cicero Town Councilor Jon Karp said.
The town of Cicero does not yet have legislation specifically relating to Airbnbs or other short-term vacation rentals.
“There’s no specific prohibition, but if you’re operating it as an Airbnb then you’re not using it in the permitted uses,” Karp said.
The lack of specificity in the town code is the problem, both Chobor and Karp say.
“The laws, they’re in their infancy,” Chobor said.
Karp said the town is researching what other municipalities have done about Airbnbs.
“Regulating this is very complex,” he said.
Cicero Town Attorney Robert Germain said the town has successfully taken other Airbnb hosts to court for code violations.
Short-term vacation rentals pose more problems than just code violations. Last year, after the town received complaints about an Airbnb on Bartel Circle, Brewerton Fire Chief Scott Leavery spoke about the public safety implications of the lack of regulations on vacation rentals.
Leavery said his crew would be “totally unprepared” in the event of an emergency at a property such as the one on Bartel Circle, which can hold over two dozen people.
“It’s not pulling up to a normal residential call,” Leavery said at the Oct. 24, 2018, Cicero Town Board meeting. “When we get an alarm activation for our calls, we’re going to assume based on statistics — 3.8 people per house — that there’s going to be four to six people in your house. … For 28 [sic] people, I need a hell of a lot of guys. Now I’m behind the eight ball.”
Leavery said it would cost volunteer fire departments more time to research the capacities of large Airbnbs, visit the locations and work out an emergency plan for each area. He asked the town board to consider requirements for parking space, evacuation plans and carbon monoxide detectors in every bedroom. He said parking needs account not just for guests, but for space for emergency vehicles to access fire hydrants.
Karp noted that having adequate parking at such a property would be important for any emergency calls on the street, not just at that particular home.
According to Airbnb, homeowners in Central New York earned over $3 million this past summer by renting out their homes. In Onondaga County alone, 11,400 people stayed in Airbnbs over the summer, generating $1.5 million for their hosts.
Chobor said she has made her Bridgeport home unavailable on Airbnb because of the code enforcement violation charge and the dispute with Klei. She is now looking to sell the home or rent it to a long-term tenant.
“I’m just trying to feed my kid and that’s it,” Chobor said. “It’s a beautiful, beautiful home, so it’s upsetting that I can’t enjoy it with my daughter.”
Klei said he has discussed a civil suit against Chobor with his attorney.
“Now it costs me money,” he said. “For my family’s safety … I will spare no expense.”
Chobor was set to appear in Cicero Town Court on Aug. 20, but the court date has been pushed back twice to Sept. 17 and Oct. 15.
