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Top stories of 2018: Village adopts short-term rental law

After about six years of discussions and draft proposals, Greenport passed a law regulating short-term rentals in October.

The Village Board unanimously approved the version of the law that was the subject of the most recent public hearing on the measure. Trustee Doug Roberts commended residents for their public participation and input in the process.

“If anyone feels like going to these meetings doesn’t do anything, it does,” he said. “And I think the people that came to these hearings let us know that they needed us to do something.”

Prior to the vote, Greenport was one of the only municipalities on the East End that didn’t have a law on the books regulating short-term rentals, which have become a controversial issue nationwide.

The adopted law defines a short-term rental as fewer than 14 days and a long-term rental as a period of at least one year. Short-term rentals of fewer than 14 days would be permitted only in one- or two-family homes that are either owner-occupied or occupied by a long-term tenant.