Residents Say "Short Term Rentals Violate The Serenity Of Monroe"
Mr. & Mrs. Carrion spoke at the Monroe Town Board meeting concerning 649 Lakes Road's Request To Be Used For Short Term Rentals
I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s worth repeating: There is a national housing shortage. There is a housing shortage here in New York — especially in nearby New York City — and there’s a housing shortage here in the Hudson Valley.
That’s the first problem with allowing more short-term rentals: It’s taking homes off the market during a time where more are desperately needed.
The second problem is that, here in Monroe, it appears that a lot of the garbage situation is being caused by short-term rentals.
That takes us back to the Monroe Town Board meeting on February 5th. A motion was made to open public comment concerning 649 Lakes Road’s application
So, whenever there’s an application to convert a home in Monroe to a short term rental, it’s worth paying attention to what the neighbors have to say.
And in this case? The neighbors are opposed.
(If you click on the video above, you’ll go right to the part where Mr. & Mrs. Carrion speak to the Monroe Town Board.)
The complaints center around maintenance of the property (who’s responsible for cleaning up?) and being converted from a home to a rental (who’s living there?). I’ve reached out to Mr. Carrion and hope to share more information about his concerns and what documentation he provided to Monroe Building & Fire Inspector, and Code Enforcement Officer, Ben Maldonado.
This brings us to the third problem with the short-term rentals: There doesn’t seem to be either A) Active enforcement of codes on the books or B) The codes don’t have enough teeth to put a stop to bad behavior from short-term rentals.
As Mr. Carrion pointed out, the current Town of Monroe code prohibits new short-term rentals being created if you have more than ten in a one square mile area of it. At his count, there are 17 short term rentals in 1.2 miles square miles of 649 Lakes Road. (A point we’ll return to later.)
So, under the code, this new application should automatically be denied.
But will it?
After Mr. Carrion spoke, the Town Board agreed to keep the public comment period open until the upcoming meeting on March 4th, 2024, at 7:00pm.
If YOU have something to say about yet another short term rental popping up here in Monroe, you can go to that meeting or email a public comment to valerie@monroeny.org with the subject line “3/4/24 Town Of Monroe Public Comment Submission.”
More Fun With LLCs
Yesterday, I showed you how to find out who the owner is of an LLC here in New York.
Now, here’s something kind of weird: I’ve been informed by a local realtor that, according to tax records, 649 Lakes Road has had the same owner since 1978: Michael Stodden.
But over here on HomeServices of America, 649 Lakes Road is listed as having been last rented on July 26th, 2023 for $2,100. So the question I have is: How long has the property been rented without permission from the town?
According to information provided by Town of Monroe Assessor, Royce Noblin Jr., 649 Lakes Road is owned by 651 Lakes LLC.
649 Lakes Road was sold by Michael Stodden on June 1st, 2023, for $975,000 to 651 Lakes LLC, who provided the address of: 651 Lakes Rd Monroe NY 10950.
The person identified by OpenGovNY as the owner of 651 Lakes LLC is Joel A. Green of 1166 44th St., Brooklyn, NY 11219. G & L DECOR INC. is also listed as operating out of this same address. I’ve reached out to Mr. Green to ask about the claims made by Mr. Carrion during the previous town board meeting.
One More Thing …
651 Lakes LLC is one of a growing number of LLCs popping up on the Monroe / Chester border on Lakes Road.
There’s the Henry Farms project, which is HIGHVIEW PROPERTIES D.H.F. INC.
There is also, across the street from Henry Farms, Oakwood Subdivision LLC (on the Chester side), and Meadow Hill Subdivision LLC (on the Monroe side.)
Meadow Hill Subdivision LLC is listed as 1252 50th Street, Brooklyn, NY, US, 11219. An LLC owns that property, 1252 50TH STREET LLC. Listed as a representative for 1252 50th Street LLC is an Albert Harstein at 1216 58th Street
I’m working to see if Mr. Harstein also owns Oakwood Subdivision LLC. I have reached out to him for comment.
This doesn’t include the 17 short term rental properties identified by Mr. Carrion.
So, for those paying attention, I’d start asking the Town Board what’s going on with all these LLCs in such a small area, what the Town plans to do about it, and whether or not the property maintenance issues caused by the short term rentals are intentional.
Of course. We need more housing. But as I’ve already mentioned, Lakes Road is getting increasingly dangerous to traverse.
There are also a lot of environmental considerations to take into account with where and how we plan future housing projects. If property maintenance is not a priority for short-term rentals, than how will we know if it’ll be a priority for much, much bigger development. Especially with Walton Lake next door.
Yes. We need more housing.
But.
We need to be smart about where that housing goes, and we can’t let business interests dictate those decisions.