Airbnb, home pool rental proposal in Brookhaven postponed amid concerns

Landlords and some Brookhaven Town residents offer starkly different images of short-term house rentals as town officials contemplate changes to the law regulating them. 

During a public hearing Thursday night at Brookhaven Town Hall, a handful of residents and town officials said houses rented through Airbnb and other online sites create problems including loud, late-night parties.

Landlords countered that renting their houses helps them pay their property taxes, adding that most of their customers do not cause disruptions.

Brookhaven officials are weighing changes to the town's existing "transient residential occupancies" law, which bars rentals for less than four weeks. Fire Island houses are exempt because they are in "seasonal" communities such as Cherry Grove and Davis Park, officials said.

Among the proposed changes are penalties ranging from $500 to $4,000 and up to 15 days in jail for a first offense and from $1,000 to $6,000 in fines and up to six months in jail for a second offense. Town attorney Annette Eaderesto said the town doesn't plan to jail violators.

Supervisor Edward P. Romaine postponed a vote; he did not say when the town board would vote on the changes.

Dozens of people attending the public hearing applauded statements opposing changes to the law.

Maura Spery, who said she has owned a Mastic Beach rental cottage since 2010, said Brookhaven should exempt houses in the less affluent Mastic-Shirley area from the short-term rental law to boost the economy there.

"You all should be considering encouraging these Airbnbs in Mastic Beach," Spery, a former mayor of Mastic Beach, told town board members. "They have been a savior for this area, a total blessing, and now you want to take them away from us."

Another landlord, who declined to give her name to a reporter, said changing the law would be "crushing" to her.

"The Airbnbs in the area are not the problem," said the woman, who lives in Mastic Beach. "The Airbnbs are beautiful houses."

But other speakers described loud birthday and pool parties, drunken guests and fires that they said were caused by occupants of rental houses in their communities.

Richard Lupo of Mastic Beach said there are four rental houses in his neighborhood, one of which hosted guests who fired pistols in the middle of the night.

"I was out till 4 a.m. looking for shell casings with the detectives," Lupo said. "No matter how well they [landlords] vet the renters, there's no way they know who's sleeping in the house next to me."

Town board members said complaints about rental houses rank among the most frequent calls they receive from constituents.

"You don't see what we deal with every single day," Councilman Dan Panico told an opponent of the proposed law revisions.

Councilman Jonathan Kornreich added: "Our phones ring all day long."

Lawyers who said they represent landlords appealed to town officials to reconsider the proposed revisions.

J. Lee Snead, a Bellport lawyer who said he represented 12 landlords, said rental properties bring "real positive benefits to the town."

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.