Village of Lakewood P-J file photo

LAKEWOOD — They are touted as quiet retreats with idyllic views of Chautauqua Lake. A quick check of Lakewood properties available for rent in the short-term reveals a handful of options.

However, citing a need to review zoning regulations on such dwellings after receiving numerous complaints, the Lakewood Village Board is eyeing a yearlong moratorium on new applications from homeowners who seek to rent out their properties to visitors for short periods of time.

Board members during a meeting this week discussed the moratorium, which would come in the form of a local law to be discussed during a public hearing May 9.

The proposed 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.”

It’s not clear just how many short-term rentals are in Lakewood; a dozen throughout the village were available for rent Wednesday on one website listing.

Lakewood Mayor Randy Holcomb said the village’s deputy clerk was in the process of trying to identify all the rentals. He said the proposed moratorium is the result of complaints village officials have received.

“There’s been many, many residents who come and say, ‘You have to get something in place,'” he said. “Every week we get additional complaints. (The rentals) can be a good thing and it can be traumatizing.”

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

A moratorium would allow the village to complete surveys and studies on rentals and review its impacts on the community.

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

Talks of a moratorium come after three people, including a juvenile, were charged after drugs and weapons were found inside a village residence used as a rental. The Lakewood-Busti Police Department said it had received a complaint of individuals unlawfully staying at the rental when 26 grams of methamphetamine, 5 grams of cocaine and a loaded 9 mm Sig Sauer pistol were discovered inside.

Holcomb said the proposed local law was being drafted when the arrests were made. He added that he has contacted mayors and supervisors of municipalities around bodies of water — Chautauqua Lake, Lake Erie and Findley Lake — to discuss short-term rentals and what they have experienced.

Town governments across the country have discussed what, if anything, to do about short-term rentals. Some argue that regulating the industry precludes homeowners from making full use of their properties while others say short-term rentals eat into the open housing market.