What to do about short-term rentals remains an open question in Oneida County.
Discussion on the matter took place before the Oneida County Board this week.
Currently in Oneida County, those looking for a short-term rental are required to book a full week.
Jacqui Sharpe, Executive Director of the Three Lakes Visitors Bureau, told the board there’s a simple fix.
“Allow one rental per seven day period, regardless of whether it's for two nights or for six. It does not change density, it does not increase turnover, it keeps the existing cap of 52 rentals per year exactly as it is," aid Sharpe. “What it does do is give property owners the flexibility to host shorter stays, like weekends, without adding any more guests, activity, or traffic than is currently permitted.”
County Board member Bill Fried has heard from people opposed to that idea.
“If any of you can tell me you've had someone that lives in a single family called you to support this, I'd love to hear that 'cause I've had no one, not one person ask me to change any of the wording,” said Fried.“The discussion is always how can we limit it more? How can we get it out as single family?”
One idea that has been floated would be to create another zoning district that towns could adopt, to allow for shorter term stays.
However, concerns were raised by some about the process town’s need to go through to adopt a new district, and about the possibility of a patchwork of rules in the county.
The board did have a resolution before it, and the options were explained.
"You can vote this down and then the question is which way does this go? Does the committee have to do something, coming back with just a resolution that says we want these, uh, one rental per seven days or do they come back with something different? That would be the two options if you vote against this resolution. If you vote for this resolution, status quo, everything's done, uh, ordinance is staying as it is."
The Oneida County Board did vote down the resolution before it Tuesday, leaving the door open for the Planning and Development Committee to have further discussions, and perhaps bring something back to the board for consideration..
