SARANAC LAKE — On Tuesday, the village development board approved two new short-term vacation rental permits, after delaying these votes last month.

The vote on the much-debated Prospect Avenue STR was split 3-2, though, with development board members Bill Domenico and Dan Reilly voting against it, citing neighbor concerns over the density of STRs in their area. They felt the application didn’t meet the criteria in the permit, because residents told them it would change the characteristic of their neighborhood.

Development board members Tim Jackson, Meg Cantwell-Jackson and Rick Weber voted to approve it, though they voiced feeling conflicted about it. They recognized the concerns of the neighbors, but were not convinced that the density or complaints made the application unable to meet the permit criteria.

Weber said because the STR permits are done through special use permits, that means STRs are presumed to be an allowable use — unless the board finds that the SUP permit criteria are not met.

A negative change in neighborhood character is a valid reason to deny a permit, but “character” is a nebulous category. In the past two weeks, some neighbors have argued that because there are already several STRs in their area, it’s the growing density of the STRs in their neighborhood that would put an increased burden on the residents. Development board members found this idea interesting, but a majority were not confident using these as factors for denial.

Consistency is key for them, and they weren’t convinced this case of density was so much more unique from other cases of STR density in the village.

The village’s year-and-a-half-long moratorium on new STR permits ended at the end of 2024 after around 113 preexisting STRs were grandfathered in and given permits. The village board chose to allow up to 10 new permits in 2025 on a first-come, first-served basis.

The development board approved the first three applications at a meeting last month. But after opposition from several neighbors of the application on Prospect Avenue, they chose to postpone their vote until Tuesday to consider whether STR density should be a factor in their decision-making. To read more about this meeting, go to tinyurl.com/4sen99f6.

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

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.

Jackson said that 2% of the F-2 district’s housing stock is STRs — the lowest rate of STRs of any district in the village. 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.

An application for an STR on the nearby Virginia Street was also postponed last month, since it is also in the F-2 district. On Tuesday, the permit was approved unanimously. Domenico said he voted to approve this one because he sees it as being in a different “STR cluster” than the one on Prospect Avenue.

Board Chair Aggie Pelletieri was not at the meeting, so Weber filled in as the interim chair.

Neighbors of Prospect Avenue brought a petition that 18 neighbors and other village residents signed opposing that application. Applicants Chase Jermano and Autumn Poppleton circulated another petition among neighbors gathering 15 signatures supporting the STR.

The public comment was closed on these applications on Tuesday, so all that was left was for the board to deliberate. They spent the last two weeks doing a lot of research.

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Board’s thoughts

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Weber said he spoke with people from the Department of State. The village’s formula was it’s decision on density, Weber said, and the board should follow that. Still, the development board does have the authority to deny permits in “truly unique situations.” Both these things are true at once.

If a permit is denied, he said they need a record of why. The board could deny a permit if it does not meet the SUP criteria.

Reilly felt there was a case to be made that the STR did not meet the criteria of “will not adversely affect the characteristics of residential neighborhoods” and “will not be detrimental to adjacent uses.” He said it does affect neighborhood character because whole-house STRs are occupied by strangers, not neighbors.

Domenico said he was taking density into consideration. He pointed out that the board looks at other types of density in other scenarios.

“I feel like the board has the authority to consider density street-by-street,” Domenico said.

Weber took time to create a map of STR density around the village to help him find “clusters” of STRs around town. He gave each unit 100-foot and 200-foot diameter circles as buffers zones to find clusters of STRs that were within 200 feet or 500 feet of each other. The map shows that the vast majority of STRs are within 500 feet of another STR and that certain neighborhoods — like Riverside Drive or the corner of Church and Main streets — have clusters of four to six STRs all within 200 feet of each other.

On Prospect Avenue, with this latest application approved, there are two STRs within 200 feet of each other, one within 500 feet and another just outside the 500-foot buffer zone.

“Personally, I do not see that strong of a unique circumstance here to deny it,” Weber said, citing other regions of the village with even tighter clustering.

He said neighbors’ comments and concerns are valid, but that he didn’t feel comfortable denying the permit and generating precedent with the tools they currently have.

Cantwell-Jackson said she was having a hard time wrapping her head around what made the Prospect Avenue project inappropriate compared to the STR applications they’ve already approved.

Reilly felt the neighbors’ opposition constituted a “strong unique circumstance.”

Up until now, he said they saw “little to no opposition” on the 116 preexisting STRs they approved. Now that there’s opposition, it brings concerns.

The board couldn’t deny the preexisting STR permits, though, Weber pointed out. But he also said there was “significant public comment” on the Prospect Avenue application.

“If we were to deny it based on comments, what’s the relevant criteria to do that?” he asked.

Cantwell-Jackson felt Prospect Avenue might have a unique situation, since they were also looking at an application on Virginia Street just around the corner and no one showed up to oppose that one.

Jackson questioned how they could regulate density. If STRs can’t be too close to each other — who takes priority? He felt whatever rule they came up with would be arbitrary and not consistent.

At one point, Domenico considered abstaining from the vote, saying he did not know which way to vote. He said the board knows the Prospect Avenue STR will adversely affect neighboring residences, because that’s what the neighbors were saying.

“I’m not willing to override the concerns of the people who live there,” Domenico said.

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Evolution

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Domenico said he left the previous meeting feeling the board was unprepared for STR permitting. He said the meeting was “atypical.” But, in the following days, his thoughts changed. This is a brand-new process, he said. The board is in a “discovery phase” for figuring out how to implement the law and it is likely to evolve over time.

“I think review of these projects, probably for a good couple months, is going to be a little clunky,” Domenico said. “It’s quite possible that projects that went one way in one meeting, don’t go similarly in future meetings. I think that’s a very natural process.”

Weber said, somewhere, there is a threshold of too many STRs in the neighborhood.

“In Lake Placid, there are no more neighborhoods,” Reilly said. “Neighborhoods are over in Lake Placid.”

Weber added that the real estate market seems to prefer STRs over homes right now.

If the village has between 100 and 200 STRs in the next couple of years, Domenico said it will be hard for the village to replace these single-family homes. The village can’t expand into Adirondack Park, which concerns him.

Cantwell-Jackson said the village board might decide to add more STR permits again next year.

“Where does it stop?” she asked.

Personally, she’d rather see owner-occupied STRs. Weber said, to him, owner-occupied STRs seem to factor differently into the density standard, since the residents would still have a neighbor. While whole-house STRs are an allowed residential use, he said they do have different characteristics than a regular home. Being surrounded by STRs does change the neighborhood experience.

Reilly feels STRs are “problematic” for neighborhoods. He doesn’t like the “blanket approval” of preexisting units which was written into the law.

Domenico said there are cues that single-family homes are a protected class. The village recently changed the definition of residential structures to include STRs. But, Domenico said the comprehensive plan predates this change.

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One more

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Village Community Development Director Katrina Glynn also asked the board if they wanted to approve one more surprise preexisting STR unit. There was an issue in the application process for an existing STR at 36 Broadway, above Left Bank Cafe. The applicant lives in the apartment when he’s in the U.S. and rents it when he lives in France. Glynn said this person paid for the application and submitted it on time, but a clerical error in typing the applicant’s email and having a U.S. phone number when the applicant was in France kept his application from being heard.

The owner recently got a non-compliance notice from the village saying his unit was illegal. Glynn asked if this application could be heard as a preexisting STR because of the communication error. She said if the board hadn’t approved the preexisting STR permits as fast as they did, they’d probably still be doing them.

“Personally, I don’t feel that the door has been shut,” Glynn said.

Board members agreed, saying it was an odd case, but valid.

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Work session scheduled

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The board scheduled a work session with the village board to discuss the details of implementing the STR law for March 18. The village is considering amendments to the law and some trustees said it was clear there was confusion among village staff and boards on several aspects of the law. To read more about the proposed amendments, go to tinyurl.com/yj464mn5.

The work session will be held in the village board room on the second floor of the Harrietstown Town Hall at 5 p.m.