Taylor Scott and Christian Mcgowan in front of their Lakewood rental property. Submitted photo

The Lakewood Village Board will hold a public hearing tonight on a proposed yearlong moratorium on short-term rentals. Village Mayor Randy Holcomb says the board wants to take some time to review zoning regulations regarding rentals, most often facilitated by popular platforms like Airbnb and Home Away.

The hearing is expected to be attended by residents on both sides of the issue and has been widely discussed by villagers since the board announced the plan for a moratorium in late April. It’s an issue being debated not just in Lakewood, but in communities across the country as complaints increase from residents about noise and crime, and concerns are voiced that the fabric of many American communities is being altered.

State and local governments eyeing the issue are facing a balancing act: deciding whether to regulate the short-term rental industry more strictly or allow it to thrive so homeowners and communities can reap the benefits of increased tourism.

Lakewood homeowners involved in the rental industry say they were blindsided by the moratorium, and are prepared to voice their opposition at tonight’s meeting. Much of their concern is focused on the final determination by the board on how they will regulate short-term rentals when the moratorium has ended.

“I’m not sure what they’re going to come up with,” said one homeowner, who chose not to give his name. “Whenever the government gets involved, it doesn’t usually end well for people–the people who pay the taxes and who are increasingly having more of their rights stripped away.”

Holcomb says the decision to call a moratorium has been on the table for several months in the wake of complaints by residents abutting properties used as rentals. Complaints brought to the village hall range from noise to parking congestion, to crime and late night parties.

“We’re not trying to ban short-term rentals,” Village Trustee Ellen Barnes said. “We put a moratorium on them so no new rentals can start while we adjust and redo some of our zoning laws. We have something going on in the village that we didn’t have before. A high number of short term rentals are coming into the area which could change the quality of life and the character of this village.”

Barnes cited her own neighborhood as an example, saying several houses surrounding her home are dark for most of the year, but were once occupied by families.

Realtor Taylor Scott owns a rental property on Lake Street and utilizes technology to manage her listing through apps, software programs and cameras. She approaches her rental as a business, and one that is professionally managed.

“We have a desirable community that people want access to,” Scott said. “We can all benefit from it (rentals), but to eventually consider banning an opportunity for us to generate tourism and revenue and share a piece of this village that we love? I think that’s doing a great disservice to our community and the businesses in our community. We need people to come in. We’re losing residents. And it’s because we’re not adapting. It’s because we’re not evolving as a community.”

Scott says she’s reached out to the village board and urged them to come up with a plan that will “set everyone up to win.” She believes homeowners with short-term rentals should have been part of the conversation from the start, since the advent of Airbnb in 2008. She called the board’s emergency moratorium “reactive” and something that could have been avoided had the board addressed rentals in the village before there were problems.

Trustee Barnes says the board will seek input from the community during the yearlong moratorium while they complete surveys and conduct studies on the impact of rentals in the village. Properties already used as short-term rentals in Lakewood will not be impacted in the interim.

The hearing is set for 6:45 tonight at Busti Town Hall at 125 Chautauqua Avenue.