Woodstock stepping up enforcement of rules regarding short-term house rentals

Story about short-term rentals in the Town of Woodstock in the Daily Freeman.

The town plans to strictly enforce the local zoning code that equates Airbnb-type rentals to bed-and-breakfast businesses. Supervisor Bill McKenna said after a Town Board meeting Tuesday night that stepped-up enforcement is a response to complaints from neighbors of short-term rental sites. In the summertime, we were getting a couple calls a week,” he said. The Woodstock Town Board has been fielding complaints for about two years about disruptive short-term renters, but McKenna said most renters are respectful of neighbors.

“There’s probably ... 800 Airbnbs in Woodstock,” McKenna said. “The problem is there’s a couple of these big party houses, and ... if you live next to one, you’re miserable. A horde of people show up on a Friday night and start to party, and the party rolls through until they leave on Sunday.” Similar complaints have been lodged with officials in the nearby town of Shandaken.

Woodstock has a law that requires rentals lasting less than a week to have the same permits required of B&Bs and to operate only on owner-occupied properties.

"Our zoning law allows for bed-and-breakfasts anywhere in town,” McKenna said. But “they need to have an operating permit, which you can get from the building inspector’s office, and they need to be inspected by the fire inspector.”


McKenna said any short-term rental that does not have an on-site owner is considered a motel or a hotel, subject to geographic restrictions and separate approvals.


“Where they are permitted, they need to go through site plan review of the Planning Board,” he said.

McKenna said long-term house rentals, such as those lasting all summer, are not restricted by the town’s zoning code.

Microbrewery in Phoenicia

A Daily Freeman story on 4 February 2017 reported Proposed micro-brewery at Phoenicia Plaza faces Shandaken Planning Board review. The location is in Phoenicia Plaza, on Route 28, near the Phoenicia Diner.

Woodstock resident Rick Shobin has his eye on the largest space available at the Phoenicia Plaza on state Route 28 just east of the Phoenicia Diner. Shobin has been talking to planners, most recently as early January, when he laid out his plans. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, at the Town Hall on Route 28 in Allaben.

A story on 15 February 2017 reports Final approval of micro brewery in Shandaken waits on input from NYC environmental department.

The town Planning Board has given conditional approval for a micro brewery to operate in the Phoenicia Plaza on state Route 28, but the board’s chairman says he cannot certify the approval until the board receives input from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

The property is in the city’s Catskills watershed, and because the business is to produce a significant amount of wastewater that will need to be hauled away, the department’s opinion is necessary.

The proposal appears to be noncontroversial at the town level. No opposition to it was voiced at a Feb. 8 public hearing, and Planning Board Chairman Don Brewer said last week that the site plan appears to be in order.


But Brewer noted the lack of New York City’s input, and he asked project architect John Wasylyk, of North Engineers and Design Associates, when it can be expected.

Stoney Creek in winter

A look at the swimming hole on 4 February 2017, at 4.40 in the afternoon.