After years of debate, the Village of Greenport has settled on a strategy for managing short-term rentals within its boundaries — only allowing them in properties that are also being used as peoples’ homes, with no minimum stay required.
In a 4-1 vote Thursday evening, Dec. 4, the Greenport Village Board passed a code amendment limiting short-term rentals to properties that are consistently used as residences, and implementing a new permitting process to begin in the new year.
Mayor Kevin Stuessi cast the “no” vote, saying the code, which does not include a minimum length of stay, would be “entirely different than anywhere on the East End.”
He said he would have preferred a 14-day minimum stay, and he believed the village needed to have “more thoughtful conversations with the business community” about their concerns over setting a minimum.
“The way this was drafted is that we are going to be allowing for a significant amount of weekend rentals,” he said. “The new law has no minimum, but there is going to be verification of all the paperwork, implementation of new applications and follow-up thereafter.”
Village Trustee Mary Bess Phillips, who ultimately ended up voting for the code change, said she was “as conflicted as the mayor is” about it.
“I want to make sure we’re putting a code on the books that will be fair, and the enforcement section will start to work itself out,” she said.
She added that she wants to ensure that people who wanted to curtail short-term rentals completely, several of whom spoke at two public hearings in September, “will feel comfortable with this code.”
“I think it speaks to the situation we have in the village,” said Trustee Julia Robins of the code adopted Thursday evening. “I think it addresses what we have. It’s flexible. And if we need to change it in a year, we can change it. I think we should give it a try.”
Three types of short-term rentals are allowed under the adopted code — a Hosted Short Term Rental, in which at least one bedroom in the unit would need to be reserved for use by an owner or resident tenant on site during the guest stay, an Owner-Occupied Short Term Rental, in which the whole unit may be rented, but the premises must be occupied by the owner at least part of the year, and a Resident Short-Term Rental, a two-unit property in which one unit must be occupied by an owner or resident tenant.
Only one short-term rental permit would be allowed per person, and short-term rentals would not be allowed in the village’s Commercial Retail zoning district.
The law states among its purposes as discouraging “the negative impacts from commercialization and investor-driven acquisition of dwelling units,” promoting “the principal use of dwelling units for residential housing purposes,” promoting “accountability of owners in respect of maintenance and operations of properties… in order to minimize the negative impacts on community character and health and safety standards” and limiting “the circumvention of local regulations.”
The 32-page code amendment is included in the meeting agenda, beginning on page 19.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, the village will begin the new permit process, under the guidance of Kenneth Marulli, a part-time code enforcement officer who the board also agreed to hire on Dec. 4.
Mr. Marulli, a former village employee, will begin work Dec. 8, with this as one of his top priorities said Mr. Stuessi.
“He will be managing the paperwork, and the new application for rentals,” said the mayor, adding that Mr. Marulli will also be dealing with other code enforcement issues within the village.
The board also set fees at $750 for an annual short-term rental permit, defined as rentals of less than 30 days, and $250 for a two-year long-term rental permit.
Owners would be required to apply for permits within 60 days of Jan. 1 and the permits would need to be in effect 120 days after Jan. 1.
Owners of properties that already have bookings must submit a list of their existing bookings within 60 days, with proof that they are unable to cancel those bookings without penalty, in order to allow those stays to be exempt from the code.
Penalties for all violations would include the suspension or revocation of a permit and disqualification from being allowed a permit for three years, and fines would range from $500 to $1,500 for a first offense to $1,500 to $5,000 for a third offense.
Ms. Phillips asked that the board have a discussion at its next work session, Dec. 18, on how the new code will be implemented, and on how the village will be using short-term rental tracking software.
“The public needs to know this code is being put on, so they’re not going to be shocked this was being implemented,” she said. “We need to know the status at the next work session. We need to be updated each month on where we’re at with this.”
“I find it hard to believe anyone would be shocked,” said the mayor. “We’ve been talking about it for years.”
The board also voted unanimously Thursday evening to send a letter asking for changes to state law to allow the village to impose an occupancy tax on transient residential units to New York State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni and State Senator Anthony Palumbo.
Those units would include, but not be limited to hotels, motels, inns, bed and breakfasts, apartment hotels, short term rentals and “certain bungalows, condominiums, cottages and cabins.” — Beth Young
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