Great Neck Estates board approves home rental restrictions

The Island Now

Residents in Great Neck Estates will now have limits on how long and how often they can rent out their homes for  short periods.
The Board of Trustees unanimously voted Monday to pass legislation restricting residents to renting out their homes for no less than eight days at a time and for no more than twice a year.
“The purpose of this was so that we maintain a community that everyone has come to, bought their homes in and have come to expect to have a relatively strong, stable community, not one where we have rentals on a daily basis, weekly basis, weekend basis, etc.,” said David Fox, the Great Neck Estates mayor. “That does not lend itself to what we have established here and has been established in this community for a very long time.”
Trustees originally proposed the law in April, but amended it after Fox said the initial proposal was “too restrictive.”
It would have permitted home rentals for no less than 60 days.
Fox said residents interested in renting out their homes would have to register with the village.
The village will set a “minimal fee,” he said, which has not yet been determined by the board.
“The only reason is so that we and the police department knows that the residents are not there, that somebody else is there,” Fox said.
He said residents are concerned with people “coming and going” to the village and “not recognizing who they are.”
The law relates to residents using popular rental websites such as Airbnb or HomeAway, or those using other methods to rent out their homes.
It also requires the homeowner to provide the name and contact information of the prospective renter and an emergency contact when seeking a permit to rent their home.
Homeowners must also send a notice to their neighbors at least five days before  renters occupy the home.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the board voted to again adjourn a public hearing on a proposal to demolish the First Playhouse Theater and replace it with an apartment complex.
Fox said the applicant requested an adjournment to the Nov. 14 board meeting because the Nassau County Department of Public Works has yet to approve a traffic control plan.
The next board meeting is Nov. 14.

By Joe Nikic

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