To the editor:

I have read the B&B law and have a few concerns that I think residents in the Village of Fayetteville may share. The law, as written, provides for no distinctions between people who want to make a living running a traditional B&B and those who may want to accept visitors a few weekends a year through an online service, such as Air B&B. If Syracuse and LeMoyne have graduations on the same day, many parents may contact some of the “locals” through Air B&B and want to make arrangement s to rent a room for a weekend. That one single act would be prohibited under Fayetteville’s new law. I think that is an unreasonable restriction on the home-owner’s property rights. And, if you want to engage in any sort of room rental in any area other than an R-3, the village is prohibiting that altogether.  As is typically the case with the “we need a law” mentality of politicians, freedom suffers while government grows.

Additionally, I wonder how the village plans to enforce this law in the event that a homeowner (in R-1, R-2 or R-3) chooses to rent a room or two a few times a year through Air B&B? Does an “out of state” license plate in the driveway coupled with a nosey neighbor or an aggressive codes enforcement officer combine to result in the codes officer knocking on the door and demanding to “inspect” the residence and interview the guest?

Every time laws are enacted that empower government and restrict freedom, the folks being regulated should be concerned. We are the frogs in the pot of water and the temperature is slowly increasing. It is this sort of law that should be scrutinized and thoroughly thought-through, if not outright eliminated from the code book. 

David B. Vickers

Fayetteville