Greenport approves short-term rentals with no minimum stay

Greenport officials agreed to allow short-term rentals with no minimum stay starting Jan. 1, despite Mayor Kevin Stuessi’s opposition at the Village Board’s Thursday, Dec. 4, meeting.

The 4-1 decision makes Greenport the most lenient municipality on the East End for short-term rentals, but the board limited such properties to those that are owner-occupied.

“I am very conflicted by the law that is in front of us,” Mr. Stuessi said. “This law, with allowing for essentially no minimum, is very different than anything else on the entirety of the eastern end.”

Southold Town requires a two-week minimum stay, while Riverhead mandates 30 days.

Discussions on the rental code have been ongoing throughout the village for well over a year. Among the talks had been minimum rental lengths of 30 days, then two weeks, and now there is no minimum. The 30-day minimum had previously been highly contentious.

The vote comes as Greenport grapples with a significant increase in short-term rentals and a dearth of affordable housing units. According to a Southold Town Planning Board report from last year, Greenport Village and Greenport West had 293 short-term rentals in spring 2024.

Mr. Stuessi said his preference was to keep the minimum stay at two weeks, but added that there was a substantial desire for weekend rentals. He said the Business Improvement District expressed concern about losing business with minimums.

Under the new code, short-term rental permits will cost $750 and last one year. Long-term rental permits will cost $250 and last two years. The previous fee was $250 for two years, regardless of the length of the rental.

Property owners must apply for permits within 60 days of Jan. 1, and permits must be in effect within 120 days. Owners with existing bookings must submit a list of those reservations within 60 days, with proof they cannot cancel without penalty, to allow those stays to be exempt from the new code.

The village will be developing a new application for rental permits.

There are three types of short-term rental permits: hosted, owner-occupied and resident. Property owners can have more than one permit, but only one permit per unit.

A hosted short-term rental requires the owner or a resident tenant to be physically present on the property, including overnight, during each guest stay. For owner-occupied, the entire house could be rented, but the owner has to show that they live in the home at least 120 days per year. Resident short-term rentals refer to two-unit properties, where one must be occupied by the owner or a tenant on a 12-month lease.

Short-term rentals will not be allowed in the village’s Commercial Retail zoning district.

“I am as conflicted as the mayor is, but the issue that I have, and hopefully it will be something that will continue, is that we’re putting a code on the books that will be fair in code enforcement,” said Trustee Mary Bess Phillips, “and the enforcement section will start to work itself out, so that people who complain about the situation as to why they wanted to curtail short-term rentals completely, will feel comfortable with this code.”

To address enforcement concerns, the board also voted to bring back Kenneth Marulli, a former village employee, as a part-time code enforcement officer at $24 an hour. Mr. Marulli started Monday, Dec. 8, and will oversee the new rental permit process.

Greenport currently does not have a full-time code inspector.

The previous code allowed for two-family houses to have one half rented out as long-term or owner-occupied, and the other as short-term. Because of there being relatively no enforcement, people were renting out both as short-term, going against the code.

Ms. Phillips said she would like for the board to receive monthly status reports on how enforcement is going. She also mentioned the village will be using short-term rental tracking software to help monitor compliance.

Violations of the code can result in fines of $500 to $1,500 for a first offense and $1,500 to $5,000 for a third offense, as well as permit suspensions or revocations, a three-year disqualification from getting a new permit, perjury prosecution and repayments of unlawful rents. Owners can appeal denials, suspensions or revocations to the Board of Trustees.

Trustee Julia Robins was all for the resolution, saying it addresses the village’s current short-term rental needs. She said if they have to revisit it in a year and make changes, so be it, but she thinks it will work.

When Ms. Phillips raised concerns about public reaction to the swift implementation, Mr. Stuessi responded: “I find it hard to believe anyone would be shocked. We’ve been talking about it for years.”

The resolution, directly after the short-term rental vote, had the board unanimously approve sending a letter to Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni and Sen. Anthony Palumbo asking for changes allowing the village to impose an occupancy tax on transient residential units. This includes short-term rentals, hotels, motels and more.