Glens Falls Short-Term Rental Survey

At the August 27 City Council meeting, Palmer announced that a forum would be held at 7 p.m. on September 25 at the Crandall Library to gather feedback from people most impacted by short-term rentals in Glens Falls.

“We just want to hear from the stakeholders, from the people who live in the community, from people who own short-term rental properties, from people who are in the real estate business, from people who live in neighborhoods that are affected by this,” Palmer said. “We want to hear from everyone before we move forward.”

Palmer says there are currently no regulations in the city regarding STRs, and the issue is not addressed at all in the bylaws. Palmer began working with Queensbury resident Harrison Freer on the issue of short-term rentals a few years ago.

At the same time, they began lobbying the county to purchase software called Granicus, which would give the city access to concrete information about the number and location of rental apartments.

Although it was able to initially enter into a contract with Granicus, it was ultimately canceled quickly and the city ultimately did not receive much information, Palmer said. In March of this year, Warren County entered into a one-year contract with Granicus for about $39,000.

At the same time, there have been numerous changes in the building and construction authority, and the city is now starting to work on the master plan, which will also address such issues.

“There have been some delays in working through this issue and we have discussed whether we should wait until the comprehensive planning process or start now,” Palmer said.

Ultimately, they concluded that it would be beneficial to start now.

She also wants the city to consider whether short-term rentals make sense in certain parts of the city, such as the downtown business district versus more residential areas.

Palmer said the council has received calls from various stakeholders on the issue.

“I’ve gotten calls saying the character of the neighborhood is changing,” Palmer said. “People come and go.” Other council members have gotten calls expressing concern about the noise.

“There have been people calling and saying, ‘I want to open an Airbnb. What are the regulations for that?'” she added. “And we have to remember that the longer we wait to act, the more people will come in and already be settling in.”

Anyone who operates such a rental must register with the county, but that doesn’t always happen, she says. And it’s harder to keep track of things because people use many different platforms like Airbnb, VRBO and Craigslist.

“When we met with them (Granicus) earlier, the number they gave us a few years ago was higher than the list we got from the county. So we know there are more. There are discrepancies,” Palmer said.

She hopes that by using Granicus, the city will have better data on short-term rentals and be able to address the problem more specifically.