BY VICTORIA CARUSO
The Flower Hill Village Board of Trustees discussed a proposal for a local rental registration law at a public hearing on Monday.
Designed to ensure the safety of rental units and prevent illegal renting, the proposed law would require all rental units in Flower Hill to be registered with the superintendent of the Building Department.
“We have no idea who lives there. We have no idea if the landlord is providing a safe space, or if they’re over-occupied,” said village Administrator Ronnie Shatzkamer about the current rental situation.
Landlords would be required to file a registration application and meet a series of requirements, like providing evidence of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in their rental properties. All units would also need to undergo regular extermination inspections. Rental permits would be valid for two years before needing to be renewed.
Mayor Brian Herrington explained how these inspections could make it easier to address health concerns, like the rodent infestation on Ridge Drive West that was brought to the board’s attention at a public hearing on Sept 13. It was later discovered that many of the rodents had been coming from an overgrown rental property behind Joanne’s restaurant — a problem that the board is working with the property owner to address.
“It would be a lot easier to ensure what is going on there if there were [regular] exterminator inspections on rental properties,” said Herrington. “We can use and leverage the rental permit to make sure that any issues that come up with the property are addressed, given that the landlord is not going to be living there.”
The proposal also included a 90-day minimum rental period – a feature of the law that provoked a strong reaction from a community member at the hearing.
“I really am opposed to this,” said the public commenter, who stood behind the podium and repeatedly expressed her resentment towards the proposed law. “It’s my property. I pay taxes. If I want to Airbnb it for less than 90 days, I should have the right to be able to do that.”
Under the proposed law, short-term rentals would not be permitted except for specific financial circumstances that would need to be approved by the board.
Several of the board members argued that the measure would benefit the community by reducing neighbor turnover rates and neighborhood noise complaints typically associated with Airbnb rentals.
Mary Jo Collins, a trustee, used her son’s bachelor party as an example, arguing that she wouldn’t want to live near the Airbnb that they rented out in Texas.
“[When you] move to Flower Hill, you assume that’s not going to happen to you,” she said. “Airbnb is something that maybe wasn’t really that popular five to 10 years ago. We need to update our laws to keep the quality of the neighborhood that people initially bought for.”
The discussion concluded with a motion to hold the proposal hearing over to the board’s next meeting on Jan 3.
“If for some reason people disagree with [the 90-day minimum], let us know,” said Herrington. “If there’s additional feedback, we can go from there.”
