The village of Watkins Glen is taking an unusual step when it comes to short-term rentals. They aren’t allowing new applications to be processed.
A moratorium has been in place- preventing properties from turning into short-term rental units. The village board voted this week to extend the moratorium for three months.
The hope is that it will give the village more time to fix zoning code to find balance between year-round residents and temporary occupants.
“Once we passed our short-term rental law we started realizing how many residents were turning into short-term rentals and vacation rentals,” said Watkins Glen Mayor Luke Leszyk. “We have to have tourism, we have to have people coming in and people want to do business and they want to make money but we also don’t want to decimate whole communities and have whole blocks where they’re just vacation rentals.”
Village officials say keeping both sides happy is crucial.
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