SARANAC LAKE — On Tuesday, the village development board approved three of five short-term vacation rental permit applications. The other two were put on hold as the volunteer board members decide whether neighborhood STR density should be considered in their deliberations.

This was the first slate of new STR permits presented to the board as the village enters a new phase of its landmark STR law, and discussion of the finer details of how permits will be issued stretched around four-and-a-half hours into the night. The village’s year-and-a-half-long moratorium on new STR permits ended at the end of 2024 and the village board chose to allow up to 10 new permits in 2025 on a first-come, first-served basis.

On Tuesday, the first five applications were for STRs on Fox Run Road, Petrova Avenue, Park Avenue, Prospect Avenue and Virginia Street.

The applications on Fox Run Road, Petrova Avenue and Park Avenue were unanimously approved. This allows the applicants to now file for a permit with the village. There are fees for obtaining a new STR permit, with sharply increasing rates for operations with more bedrooms — ranging from $25 to $1,600.

However, the most contentious application was unanimously tabled until the March 4 meeting, as was another application in the same neighborhood.

At times, the debate got heated, with members of the public talking outside of public comment and being silenced by board members. This sometimes escalated into shouting before being brought back to order.

In this new phase of the STR law, homeowners are applying for new STR permits. Before, all permits were for existing STRs. For the first time, neighbors can directly oppose planned STRs before a government board.

But, last week, Development Board Chair Allie Pelletieri said there aren’t many reasons the board could reject an STR application, since they are zoned as residential homes. Village Community Development Director Katrina Glynn said the relevant information for the board to consider in their decisions must be tied back to the code.

Still, STR density in neighborhoods is something some board members think could be a substantial change in the “character” of the neighborhood and possible grounds for denial.

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Density debate

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Chase Jermano and Autumn Poppleton’s application for a whole-house STR was tabled after opposition from several neighbors of the property.

Neighbor Charlie Story asked the board to deny this application.

The application says the STR would have no undue adverse effects on adjacent properties. Story said the neighbors disagree.

Neighbors Shaun and Anna Kittle brought a petition that 18 neighbors and other village residents signed, opposing the application.

“The decision … is really about who this village values more,” Shaun said. “Is it the 18 voices of these local people who live here and contribute to our community? Or is it the voice of one person who wants to make a quick buck with no regard for the outcome to the neighbors?”

Their home already has two STRs and a vacant property nearby, he said. Shaun previously raised concerns about the STR permit process. To read more about that, go to tinyurl.com/28md8t9d.

Anna said a whole-house STR is an unregulated STR. She said she won’t feel safe and that guests would be able to see into the yard where their children play. She’d rather take the chance on one neighbor than on “500 strangers.”

Development Board member Meg Cantwell-Jackson felt permanent residents would feel more entitled to misbehave than guests. Neighbor Deb Story said it’s different — she can have a relationship with renters, not with a stream of strangers.

“I guess I don’t understand what the point of (public comment) is if what we say doesn’t matter,” Deb said.

Development board member Bill Domenico felt neighbors’ gripes were not with the application or applicants — but with having another STR near their house. He suggested tabling the application to look at the district more.

This house is in the F-2 district, which has six preexisting STRs and two new allowable STR permits.

“I wish (the neighbors) had spoken with the village board when the village board decided they wanted to add STRs to this district,” Glynn said.

The F-2 French Hill district has the largest number of residential units of any village district — 293, nearly 100 more than the next-largest district. If both the Prospect Avenue and Virginia Street applications are approved, there would be four STRs on one block.

Neighbor Mindy Fredenburg suggested a density limit for STRs, saying if this one is approved, she’d be surrounded by them and bearing the burden of STRs in her district unfairly.

A formula determines where new STR permits are allowed. If a district has between 51 and 200 residential properties, it can have one more STR. If it has more than 200 residential properties, it can have two more STR units.

Cantwell-Jackson said they could “kick the can down the road” but this district will have two STRs. Domenico asked if there should be two.

STR applicant neighbor and town board member Jeremy Evans said the formula means F-2 can have up to two new STRs, but it is not required to add two. Pelletieri asked how they could accept one and deny the other. Evans said he knows this would put the board in a very difficult position.

Fredenburg said she was upset Jermano and Poppleton were leaving the neighborhood. Poppleton said they’re not leaving, that they’ll still live at the house part-time, with plans to only rent part of the house in the future. Whether the application is approved or denied, in either case, all these neighbors will have to live together in the same neighborhood — at least, part-time.

Village resident Mark Wilson said the STR permits had a “Hunger Games”-style process pitting neighbor against neighbor.

“Your board is charged with protecting the character of our neighborhoods,” he said.

Glynn wondered if the debate was really about the density, or if it was just about the neighbors not wanting an STR next to their house. Pelletieri said the neighbors had a coordinated movement and questioned if all the petition signers cared about the STR before they were approached with the petition opposing the application.

Domenico acknowledged that if neighbors weren’t complaining, the board probably would have just approved this one like the others.

“But, over the years, I’ve learned that if enough people have a concern, there might be something there,” Domenico said.

“I think people are using density as an excuse to not have it be in their backyard,” Glynn said.

Development board member Rick Weber differed. He feels STR density can influence neighborhood character. “Neighborhood character” is hard to define or quantify, he said, but added that while STRs are not officially a commercial use, to neighbors, they are commercial in feel. There’s a fear of a loss of neighborhood relationships he saw.

Weber said he hadn’t considered the density issue before and it surprisingly resonated with him. It stopped him in his tracks and now wants more time to think about it.

Board members acknowledged that this is a similar situation to the Petrova Avenue application, where a neighbor complained about the number of STRs in a small area — and they had just approved the Petrova Avenue application.

Some members felt the density was stronger in this case, especially since they were looking at another application right around the corner on Virginia Street. The board tabled these two applications, to discuss and vote on them at their next meeting on March 4.

Development Board member Tim Jackson said they need to take these two weeks to find ground for their decision to feel more comfortable with it. If they deny an application, it needs to be within the rules. They’re still learning the edges of their abilities and what they have the authority to do.

Glynn said if they make a decision based on density, that sets a precedent and they would need to follow that logic from then on.

Village Trustee Aurora White was at the meeting and told the development board she felt, if the development board says the density in a particular district is too much, then it is.

“The local government sets policy on the general level and we lean on you guys to make that judgment call on what is going to impact the character of the neighborhood,” White said.

Domenico said they’re still learning the boundaries of the STR applications. Although they’ve already approved 116 preexisting STR units in the village, these permits were all guaranteed and the board was less involved in those.

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Virginia Street tabled, too

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Ian O’Brien’s STR application on Virginia Street is also in the F-2 district, which has six preexisting STRs and two new allowable STR permits.

Board members noticed that most of the neighbors who opposed the Prospect Avenue application left before this public hearing and wondered if they didn’t care about this one.

“They should have gone first,” Poppleton said of O’Brien’s application.

Pelletieri feels Virginia Street might be in a different density cluster. It’s not visible or within hearing distance of Prospect Avenue, and the neighbors seemed to not care as much about this one. But he said they need to table it, too, saying they were sort of “backed into a corner” on this.

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Shire STR opposed

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The board had high praise for the construction of Sunny Rozakis and John Joe Reilly’s Petrova Avenue unit — taking it from a run-down trailer parked on the property to a replica of a Hobbit house from the Shire in “The Lord of the Rings.”

Neighbor Eric Wamsganz asked the board to deny the permit. He said there’s already one STR next to his house on the street and that the neighborhood is risking being “wiped out” by STRs. This house is in the J-1 district, which has five preexisting STRs and one new allowable STR permit.

He also said he’s “disgusted” to see guests at the existing STR engage in derelict behavior in a school zone. The houses are across the street from Petrova Elementary School. Wamsganz said he sees guests smoking cannabis and drinking beers across from the school, taking wood from his yard and leaving cigarette butts.

“If someone has an STR and they misbehave and the neighbor calls the police and makes a report, we will get that,” Pelletieri said. “And the next time … they come back for their permit, this will be discussed.”

Every year, when permits are renewed, the board can require owners to remedy complaints or they can revoke permits. Glynn clarified that not all complaints will result in a revocation.

Wamsganz said he wants a complaint task force focused on STRs. He said the police often do not come when he calls.

Pelletieri noted that cannabis is legal now and homeowners or long-term renters can smoke in their yards across from schools.

Glynn said they can’t deny permits based on “what-ifs” about guest behavior.

The board discussed the possibility of the village board putting a no-STR zone around schools. Jackson said this is more of an issue for enforcement, not applications.

Wamsganz got frustrated with the board and called their conduct with the public “sharp.” Pelletieri said Wamsganz was breaking rules by talking longer than the allotted three minutes for public comment. Wamsganz left, exchanging words with Pelletieri.

Evans had a concern about this application having a mailing address in Lake Placid and wondered if they met the residency requirement. Glynn said the applicants provided a Saranac Lake voting registration, which is sufficient.

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Park Avenue approved

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John Muldowney’s Park Avenue accessory dwelling unit STR permit application drew some concern from neighbors at a meeting earlier this month, but when he told neighbors he did not plan to build a deck on the back of the unit, they said they were comforted.

Muldowney said when he bought the property, the ADU came with two doors leading out to an open space where the previous owners planned a deck, but that he was not planning a deck there.

The board said Muldowney would be allowed to build the deck on the back of the ADU if he wanted. But he was adamant he does not plan to.

This application passed with the condition that the code enforcement officer look at egress on the back doors. Without a deck, they lead to open air. Board members wanted to ensure there would be no falls and that there would be adequate means of escape in the case of a fire.

This house is in the H-3 district, which has two preexisting STRs and one new allowable STR permit.

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Fox Run Road

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Kathy Pallotta’s Fox Run Road basement STR application was approved with the condition that the village code enforcement officer first inspect the basement unit for fire safety compliance, mostly means of egress in an emergency.

This house is in zone K-2, which has 13 preexisting STRs and one new allowable STR permit.

The board also discussed proposed changes to the village’s STR law at Tuesday’s meeting. The Enterprise will write about this discussion after the weekend when the board’s suggestions are taken back to the village board.