We ask the Wilmington town board to temporarily pause the distribution of short-term rental (STR) permits until Wilmington’s STR ordinance is updated to reflect the needs and expectations of Wilmington’s residents. A temporary pause in the issuance of STR permits will give our community time to unite, in a spirit of compromise, around common-sense improvements to our STR regulations.

The housing shortage is a major issue in the High Peaks region. Wilmington in particular cannot afford to lose even more housing to STRs. Make no mistake: Online platforms such as Airbnb have changed the game. Short-term rentals are now a problem in popular destinations around the world. New situations and new problems require new approaches and new solutions. The communities that survive and even flourish in this new terrain will be those that act with an appropriate sense of urgency, before further irreversible damage is done.

Unfortunately, Wilmington is behind the curve and behind the times. We have the opportunity to learn from Lake Placid’s mistakes. Instead, our leaders seem determined to repeat those exact mistakes. Here are some proposals Wilmington should enact as it works to modernize its STR ordinance:

¯ First and foremost, Wilmington should treat businesses as businesses and residences as residences;

¯ Wilmington must require STR operators to pay their fair share in order to ease the property tax burden placed on full-time residents who are merely living in their homes, not operating investment properties as businesses;

¯ Because they are businesses, Wilmington must consider the prospect of a use variance requirement for STRs outside of the commercial center of town;

¯ Wilmington should limit the number of STR permits issued annually;

¯ Wilmington must immediately create a community STR board to ensure that ideas, concerns, questions, and solutions are heard loud and clear.

Tourism is an important part of our economy, but tourism should support and enhance our community, not undermine and detract from it. Unfortunately, in various ways the Adirondack Park is increasingly confronted by the negative effects of tourism. In Wilmington, this is manifested by the fact that we have already lost far too many full-time homes and long-term apartments to the STR explosion. We have no basis to conclude that this harmful trend will not continue.

We ask our elected officials to show us that they are putting our community first by pumping the brakes on the looming distribution of long-term (two-year!) STR permits and immediately embarking upon the hard, but necessary, work of modernizing our STR ordinance.

We ask our town board to show us that it is putting the needs of our community first — not with words, but with actions. We will be watching.

Sincerely,

Christina Anderson

Sara Duensing and Ben Hobday

Stephanie Gates

Edward Geserick

Laura and Jason Hooker

Megan and Keith Lyon

Kelly and James Miner

Terry and Mary Murphy

Joseph Rumble

Chelsea Walker

Pam Winch

Pat and Ed Winch

Daniel Winkler

Jeri Wright

Wilmington