Threat of Short-term Rentals to mountain towns

Police serve YOU!  And usually a Sheriff is an elected position.  Make it known.

I'd have to imagine there isn't a ton of big crime like in cities so the police need to be where they are needed.  If there are issues in your towns, the Sheriff needs to address them, and if the office is too small, you need to lobby to make it sufficient to serve the community.

I figured LP had their own police, so they should be able to solve their own problems assuming the jurisdiction is with North Elba.  Wilmington and Jay will have to rely on the Sheriff or try to work a deal with other towns to come up with a law enforcement official.

The county I'm from is almost as big as Essex although it has twice the population.  We had a Sheriff.  I lived in a town that had a police force as well even though it was immensely poor.  Most people lived in trailers or houses that were falling apart.  We also did not have the benefit of tourists to buy vacation homes and pay taxes in our town.  There was nothing to bring them there but a bunch of farms.  Our taxes were also much higher than most places in the blue line despite the very low median income.  Trust me, there's solutions.

Not sure of the deal the state made when the APA was created but my assumption on how things are is as its 97% state land the state dec and troopers are responsible for law enforcement

You almost never see a Sherrif car west of the Jay range.  They stick to the east side by the lake where it’s not  all APA controlled.

Z wrote

Not sure of the deal the state made when the APA was created but my assumption on how things are is as its 97% state land the state dec and troopers are responsible for law enforcement

You almost never see a Sherrif car west of the Jay range.  They stick to the east side by the lake where it’s not  all APA controlled.

Who pays for your highways?  Are they state routes?  If so, that's probably why you see the state police.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the state pays property taxes to itself and to the the towns and counties for the state land.  Even though you don't have landowners there, that should still be money in your coffers for Sheriffs.

I'd find out why, but the Sheriff's jurisdiction should be within the county.  Also there's usually more than one person working for the Sheriff's department.  There's usually a number of deputies if the area is large and needs more coverage.

If the state really wants to use the troopers to enforce these issues, then the next step would be to lobby the state to put a HQ closer or have more on patrol.  I'd imagine a good part of their job is catching speeding Quebecois on the Northway

With all do respect, Coach. If you have a homeowners association while living in the Dacks that's city shit right there.

I'd love to have seen the look on my Grandfathers face when someone told him what color mailbox he had to have.

That would've been great entertainment. He was already mad as hell at the fact people from the city were in control of what he could and could not do with his land.

campgottagopee wrote

If you have a homeowners association while living in the Dacks that's city shit right there.

I’d call it “suburban” moreso than “city”.  

witch hobble wrote

campgottagopee wrote

If you have a homeowners association while living in the Dacks that's city shit right there.

I’d call it “suburban” moreso than “city”.

As long as we are quibbling, they are pretty prevalent in the upper middle class neighborhoods in cities.  Also in big buildings you'll have an analog.

My neighborhood couldn't give two shits.  It's very blue collar.  I was throwing out some old notebooks one day and my neighbor was digging in them and asked me WTF I did for a living.  I guess all the numbers and weird symbols perplexed him.

If you live out in the sticks, you're probably happy if your neighbor has less than two old cars rotting in their yard.

I’ve never lived in a city. I really associate them with condos and exurban gated communities.

Sketchy neighbor bro.

witch hobble wrote

Sketchy neighbor bro.

Nah - he's cool.

If I put something out at the road and someone isn't pawing at in less than an hour I know it's really junk.

witch hobble wrote

I’ve never lived in a city. I really associate them with condos and exurban gated communities.

Mostly - but also city neighborhoods will have them to keep their property values up.  Usually not lower end neighborhoods, because those people don't give a fuck.  And really rich neighborhoods don't need to worry about that, they just price everyone out.  It's just those ones where you might get someone a little weird with enough money to move in.  You gotta control those maniacs.

.....or you are one of those maniacs!

witch hobble wrote

.....or you are one of those maniacs!

I definitely am, that's why I don't live in those neighborhoods.

I seriously considered one in the city though.  I liked the neighborhood and to buy a house that wasn't part of the HOA was really, really expensive because they were all old, historical homes.

It’s not mandatory that you even join the Hoa.  It’s like 75 bucks a yr.  the hoa owns and maintains the common area recreational areas.  We have what amounts to a big park with maybe 10 acres of land, a picnic pavilion, a big pond / small lake, tennis courts and about 10 miles of Mt bike / Xc skiing trails.  I help maintain the trails and they are pretty nice.  

The hoa also works with the big land owners at the boarders of the area Ward lumber and a private hunting / fishing camp and the town.  If it wasn’t for the Hoa lobbying the town would not be maintaining our roads as we as property owners actually own the dirt roads in front of our properties not the town.  The town owns the paved roads which there are only 2.  Troopers patrol the paved town roads and are responsible for law enforcement of the entire area.  

It’s really not a bad deal for 75 bucks a yr Hoa fee and if you want to use the rec facilities you pay to join.  They just crossed some membership threshold in the deeds were in future when you buy a house you have to join but I don’t have to based on when I bought.

What you guys don’t get is unless your grandparents were born here you have little or no say in how things are run in these towns and county. It doesn’t work like it does in your suburbs.

That sounds like a pretty nice HOA.  I would pay it.

Not sure what you mean about your towns.  If you are talking about APA restrictions, then that's one thing, and they don't have much effect.  I come from a family who owned land inside the blue line for many decades, so I know a few things about it too.

If you mean your town is not responsive to your needs as a citizen, then you need to take action.  Sounds like your HOA did what it was supposed to do, but you didn't need a HOA to pressure the town into actually maintaining a road for year round residents.

Personally I think your towns are far too small a political boundary.  For the population density you have and the number of roads, which isn't many, your towns should be twice the size.  You'd probably be able to afford a police officer as well.

We have twice the roads in the Southern Tier (Steuben County) and most are county or town roads.  They are all maintained really well.  Even if you are a lone trailer out on a very little used road, they'll plow it and grade it or stone it.  There's no reason these towns shouldn't be able to maintain what they have.

I really don't get what you end goal is here Z other than to increase gov't regulations and increased property taxes to increase police presence, in a community of a what, a couple hundred people.

You are being the definitive example of outside guy who moves in and then wants it to be just like the city you left, even if it was 20 years ago.

Also, I find it really hard to believe that these issues are really that large in Jay NY ultimately in a community of a-frames and small faux chalets. You are also dealing with a property tax base that is tiny, property values are 1-200k in the Acres, lots can be had for 5-10k. You are never going to get the regulations and enforcement you want without substantial tax increases. Further excluding the local population. Lets not even touch the fact that property values have increased 25% or so in the past 5 years also. Who profits there, oh right you do.

The Adirondacks in a large rural place, within which you found an HOA to live in and want police presence like a city. You could move 10 miles north and not see a person for weeks, but you seem to be talking about out of both sides ya know where you want the peace and quiet but all the protections and government oversight.

But now that I know how cheap it is there and allegedly how successful STR's are, maybe I should buy a couple lots and build some rentals. Cha ching!

PFunk_Spock wrote

I really don't get what you end goal is here Z other than to increase gov't regulations and increased property taxes to increase police presence, in a community of a what, a couple hundred people.

You are being the definitive example of outside guy who moves in and then wants it to be just like the city you left, even if it was 20 years ago.

Also, I find it really hard to believe that these issues are really that large in Jay NY ultimately in a community of a-frames and small faux chalets. You are also dealing with a property tax base that is tiny, property values are 1-200k in the Acres, lots can be had for 5-10k. You are never going to get the regulations and enforcement you want without substantial tax increases. Further excluding the local population. Lets not even touch the fact that property values have increased 25% or so in the past 5 years also. Who profits there, oh right you do.

The Adirondacks in a large rural place, within which you found an HOA to live in and want police presence like a city. You could move 10 miles north and not see a person for weeks, but you seem to be talking about out of both sides ya know where you want the peace and quiet but all the protections and government oversight.

But now that I know how cheap it is there and allegedly how successful STR's are, maybe I should buy a couple lots and build some rentals. Cha ching!

First off, I don't know how wildly successful STRs are.  We have some friends who have one on Cayuga Lake and they book it solid from spring to fall.  We asked what they payed for the house and what they rent it for.  A couple quick calculations it seems they are only about breaking even with taxes and all.  Maybe even less with improvements they've done.  They also drive out every weekend during the busy season and make sure it's ready for the next customer.

It's really weird to me, but they actually like that shit.  They love maintaining houses and entertaining.  Their regular house is a for real 1800s mansion that they've modified into rentals just so they can afford to live there.  The house they had before that was way out of their price range as well and they worked on it constantly (it was one of the historic houses I was speaking of in a previous post).

Anyway, I'm sure some people make a little money on those STRs, but I don't think it's gonna pay your bills.  It might give you a vacation house for free that you get to use once in a while.  But you have to put in a lot of work to have that.

As far as Coach's expectations, I don't think they seem unreasonable even though he's gone around in circles a few times making arguments from every which way about how nothing will work.  Most towns, even really small ones have some kind of law enforcement.

Again no one's ever answered my question to the point if you legislate something, how do you enforce it if you don't have any enforcement.  I don't even understand what these towns might do for town court.  Do you even have a town court?

I know Z's area pretty well.  And I gotta say, it's not a shit ton different than rural southern NY except there's a lot more influx of tourism.

I'm more so being passive aggressive that the STR problem is not what he says it is in Ausable Acres. I don't think anyone is getting rich off them, which means they aren't rented all that much ultimately, certainly not enough to be ruining this guys life like he implies.

PFunk_Spock wrote

I'm more so being passive aggressive that the STR problem is not what he says it is in Ausable Acres. I don't think anyone is getting rich off them, which means they aren't rented all that much ultimately, certainly not enough to be ruining this guys life like he implies.

Yeah, ha - I got that, but I was trying to bring some realism into the picture.

I'd have to imagine those ones in his area do pretty well most of the year.  And I think that was MC's point.  He lives in a desirable area to tourists for most seasons.  It's not surprising that most people might want to rent a house for a weekend to a week up there.

Home prices are fairly high there IMO.  Again, mostly due to it being a desirable area to live in terms of recreation.  Even a shack in the dacks in generally going for a lot more than what you can buy a trailer and a few acres for in the rest of rural NY.  They have the benefit of low taxes usually.  This is actually usually due to their tourism and vacation properties.  Apparently it's also due to the fact that they don't get shit out of them.  This is why I keep comparing to a poor Southern NY county.  One where there are no lakes to attract cottagers.  No ski resorts to attract skiers.  No large swaths of mountains to hike.  No Olympic villages.  You get my point...

MC2 5678F589 wrote

Z wrote

.  I chose to live here to get away from the suburbs and live in a small town attimosphere.

You chose to live in an area with a lot of tourists.

Yeee....I'm familiar with that area.  I wouldn't exactly call it touristy.

MC2 5678F589 wrote

Don't make me put up "Old Man Yells at Cloud" again.

D.B. Cooper wrote

Yeee....I'm familiar with that area.  I wouldn't exactly call it touristy.

He lives what, less than 10 min from the largest ski area in NY?  About 15-20 to an Olympic Village.  Probably about 10 min to at least one trailhead of the most used public land in the state.  I could go on...

Maybe not his immediate neighborhood but goddamn, it's a tourist area.