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Village Adopts Moratorium On New Short-Term Rentals

LAKEWOOD — More than a dozen people spoke during a public hearing Monday on a proposed yearlong moratorium on permitting new short-term rentals in the village of Lakewood. The moratorium, in the form of a local law, was later adopted unanimously by the Lakewood Village Board.

During Monday’s public hearing, real estate broker Julie McMahon told the village board she had a buyer who backed out of purchasing a lakefront home when she told him new regulations on short-term rentals were being considered. He told McMahon he wanted the option to rent.

Resident Kerry Brown said she lives next door to an Airbnb.

“It’s like living next door to a motel or a campground,” she said.

Lakewood Mayor Randy Holcomb said he has received numerous complaints on rentals in the village. He said a yearlong moratorium will give the village time to review zoning regulations.

The local law notes the “recent trend of existing residential structures being used by owners for the primary purpose of renting to short-term rental occupants has created the concern that the residential character and economic base of the village is threatened.”

It goes on to say: “The Board of Trustees hereby finds that more specific zoning provisions are appropriate to address this increasingly popular land use activity and that short term vacation rentals create conflicts with their residential neighbors, and have the potential to degrade residential neighborhoods by introducing crime, noise, parking congestion and other detrimental impacts while also adversely affecting the traditional neighborhood character that results from a community of owner-occupied properties.”

Village resident Jill Conley on Monday said she moved to her home in Lakewood in 1981 because it was zoned residential. “We were surrounded by families,” she said. “But in 2014, I brought my concerns about rentals to the board several times. Things had changed — we have two Airbnbs in a block of four houses. People have lost consideration for their neighbors.”

Village board member Benjamin Troche, who was not in attendance Monday, submitted a letter regarding the rentals.

“I believe it is our duty as the village board to make decisions based on facts, and a complete and thorough understanding of the consequences of such decisions,” he said. “It is also our duty as the village board to continue to keep and continue to pursue ways to make our neighborhoods safe, friendly and community oriented.”

Troche said he supports the moratorium, noting that it can be lifted should the board conclude “its due diligence before one year.”

Holcomb said last month the village wasn’t trying to put an end on short-term rentals; he said the moratorium will give officials time to look at zoning regulations that largely do not address rentals.

“We’re not trying to stop them,” he said. “We just want to get solid zoning on them.”

Specifically, the moratorium will limit any new short-term rental occupancy within three village zoning districts: single-family residential, multiple-family and mobile residential. Further, it will prevent property owners from being able to apply for a permit to turn their homes into a short-term rentals.

Properties already used as short-term rentals in Lakewood will not be impacted by the local law.

Margot Russelll contributed to this story.

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