Pine Plains has no regulations in place on short-term rentals, marketed on platforms such as AirBnB, Vrbo and Red Cottage. But that may change.
Responding to a request from the Town Board to research regulations, the Zoning Review Committee invited Heather LaVarnway, senior planner with the Dutchess County Planning Federation, to a public meeting on March 5. According to data presented at the meeting, Pine Plains saw an increase in short-term rentals from 22 units in 2019 to 32 units by the third quarter of 2023. Last year, 2.6% of Pine Plains’ 1,175 housing units were dedicated to short-term rentals, approximately three-times the average of 0.8% in Dutchess County. Additionally, 87% of short-term rentals in Dutchess County were entire properties rather than just a room or portion of a residence.
“What does Pine Plains want to achieve with short-term rentals?” LaVarnway asked the audience of 16: eight members of the general public, including Town Board members Jeannine Sisco and Kevin Walsh, two additional presenters from Dutchess County, and six members of the Zoning Review Committee.
LaVarnway began her presentation by defining a short-term rental as one available for fewer than 31 days. She explained that many Dutchess County communities have regulations that vary depending on the community’s needs.
Dutchess County offers to cover the cost of address-identification and compliance-monitoring modules for municipalities adopting short-term rental regulations. The services are provided by the compliance company Granicus, that describes itself as a “platform to handle all your community’s short-term rental registration, tax collection, and enforcement needs.”
According to handouts presented at the meeting, the annual fee for the two modules ranges from $2,500 for a municipality with fewer than 50 listings to $5,000 or more for municipalities with more than 50 listings. The county — which collects a hotel-like tax on short-term rentals — offers to pay the renewal of the subscription each year, provided the funding is approved in the budget by the county Legislature.
The larger issue of housing affordability, both for renters and homeowners, was a recurring topic. LaVarnway said that while the short-term rental market can impact the availability of affordable housing, it is only one part of a complex puzzle that includes interest rates. Higher interest rates not only make it harder to borrow and buy, but also encourage people in houses with existing low-interest mortgages not to sell.
“We’re more concerned about apartments in town rather than a $3 million home on top of the hill,” Zoning Review Committee Chair Michael Stabile said. LaVarnway explained that even such high-end transactions can still affect affordability.
“If someone is looking to buy a home at that price but it’s not available, they may turn around and buy a less expensive house and fix it up,” LaVarnway said. “Housing is a sort of musical chairs. When there are fewer choices, prices tend to go up.”
Credit: Adobe Stock/Pixavril
A room full of questions and concerns
The town sought to understand if people are more concerned about the nuisances created by short-term renters, such as noise or litter, or the effect short-term rentals will have on housing affordability.
It was clear from the comments made by Zoning Review Committee members that they understood short-term rental income helps some people afford to stay in their homes, including their second homes. No one expressed issues with short-term rentals in which the property owner is present, or where an individual home-owner is renting a property while out of town.
There was however, clear resistance to corporations or investors buying private homes to turn into short-term rentals.
“Are we adding affordable housing faster than short-term housing?” committee member Rory Chase asked. “We want to discourage the purchase of investor units.”
Committee member Scott Chase, noted that certain conversions to short-term rental units entail long-needed rehabbing of neglected properties. Another committee member, Wesley Chase, pointed out that septic regulations could help by forcing updates on some units.
There was agreement at the meeting that any regulations on short-term rentals would apply only to new conversions. For people who currently operate short-term rentals, the new restrictions, whatever they may be, will likely not apply to them.
Questions also came up about accessory dwelling units, which are secondary houses or apartments on a property that are generally considered beneficial for improving affordable housing stock. Would these be regulated for long-term rentals only? Some Zoning Review Committee members suggested that they were open to classifying them as short-term rentals as well.
On the issue of tax revenue, LaVarnway pointed out that hotel-like taxes are collected by counties when short-term rentals register with one of the rental sites where they list their properties, including AirBnB. Scott Chase pointed out that the tax was intended to go toward promoting tourism in the county that generated it.
One committee member asked if the town could add an additional tax. LaVarnway answered yes. Many towns, she said, do this by charging for an annual operating permit as part of their short-term rental fee structure.
Pine Plains must decide what it wants from short-term rentals
LaVarnway suggested Pine Plains look at regulations drawn up by the town of Washington, which also has many second homes. She said that different towns, including Poughkeepsie, have capped the number of short-term rentals per owner. Kingston has limited the number of available permits to 1% of the total of the town’s housing stock.
“Do you want to require primary residency for short-term residency permit approval?” LaVarnway asked, reiterating that it was essential for the community to decide what it wants.
There was discussion about having an additional public meeting to solicit comments from the community. Sisco urged that additional data be collected before such a meeting, so that potential questions could be answered accurately. It is likely to take quite a while for regulations to be drafted and approved. The Zoning Review Committee does not decide, they advise. The decision will ultimately be made by the Town Board.
The full meeting is available on Pine Plains Planning and Zoning Boards Youtube Channel, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgYRnLXg6Tg&t=7s