Great Neck Estates looks to change proposed home rental law

Village of Great Neck Estates trustees are looking to adjust a proposed limitation on short-term rentals in the village through websites like Airbnb after residents said the proposed law was too restrictive.
Great Neck Estates Mayor David Fox said at Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting that the board discussed changing the initially proposed law, which would permit home rentals for no less than 60 days, to allow residents to rent out their homes for a minimum of eight days no more than two times per calendar year.
Fox admitted that the first proposal was “too restrictive” for residents.
“We’re not a transient community and that’s one of the reasons and issues we came up with this proposal in the first place,” he said. “It’s not that we have an issue today, it’s that we could have an issue tomorrow and why should we wait until tomorrow to see if there’s a problem.”
Trustee Howard Hershenhorn said that the proposed law was “way overly restrictive,” but that the board wanted to limit residents renting out their homes every weekend or on a consistent basis for a short period of time.
Hershenhorn said the adjusted law, which has not yet been formally drafted, is  fairer to village residents.
“It allows people to go once or twice a year to swap their house or do whatever they want to do, maybe they do it over the December holiday or August holiday,” he said. “That sounds a lot fairer to me than a blanket restriction saying 60 days or that you can’t do it at all.”
Trustee Jeffrey Farkas said that some form of registration process should be set up for residents to alert the village of their intentions to rent out their home and so the village can “control who’s doing what.”
Farkas suggested the village also collect a “minimal” fee between $25 and $50 for registering.
The board voted to schedule a public hearing for the updated proposed law at its Sept. 7 meeting.
Fox said once the legislation is drafted, it will be posted on the village website before the public hearing.
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 Sept. 7 board meeting.
He said he was unsure if the applicant would be ready by the next meeting, but said discussions with the Nassau County Department of Public Works over a traffic control plan was “making some progress.”