State Supreme Court deems Hague's Short Term Rental Law invalid

HAGUE | After nine months of being in effect, the Town of Hague's Local Law #1 of 2024- the Short Term Rental Law- has been struck down by New York State Supreme Court Warren County Judge Robert Muller, declaring it invalid. The law was officially passed on June 13, 2024, and became effective Jan. 1 of this year. At the fourth and final public hearing on the contentious Short Term Rental Ordinance, the Hague Town Board voted 4-1 in favor of adopting the proposed article as local law after nearly two years of consideration. Article 4, E of the law stated that all persons or entities that purchased property in Hague after Jan. 1, 2025, would not be eligible for a STR permit for a period of three years after the property purchase date. Further, all persons or entities that purchased a property in Hague after that date would not be permitted to engage in short-term renting for less than three consecutive days and nights between May 15 and Oct. 15 once the three-year waiting period was over. However, those stipulations would not apply to any property owners or entities prior to Jan. 1. Also, an exception to both the three-year waiting period and the consecutive three-day minimum was made for properties transferred to immediate family members. Properties transferred to other family members would also be exempt upon appeal to the town board. Leading up to the law's adoption, there had been concern that the proliferation of such rentals had affected the local housing market, causing a reduction in the availability of affordable housing (a trend that has been seen rising all across the country). There was concern the pattern would ultimately decrease the number of year-round residents, causing a direct correlation in depressing local fire and emergency volunteers and children within schools, all of which rely on the local off-season population. In order to guarantee that short-term rental properties operated in Hague's long-term best interest, the Town Board concluded that providing a local law with supplementary rules and regulations was a necessity. MATO PROPERTIES, LLC brought the action against the Town of Hague and the Hague Town Board and challenged the Town Board's enactment of the local law on eleven grounds, including constitutional claims of vagueness, lack of due process and equal protection; adoption of the law was arbitrary and capricious; and lack of review pursuant to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Ultimately, the STR law was overturned based on the failure of the Town of Hague to comply with SEQRA. Enacted in 1975, SEQRA is one of New York's most important environmental statutes. It requires that state and local government agencies consider the environmental consequences of their actions, including permitting. It also requires them to take all feasible measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate damage to the environment. The Town contended the law had nothing to do with the environment as it deals with short-term rental property, not construction, and therefore SEQRA review was not required. However, Muller found the STR law did indeed have environmental impacts to consider, therefore requiring SEQRA should have been part of due process based on concerns about noise level, garbage, and maximum occupancy requirement (which would have an impact on septic use). According to the STR Committee minutes, residents complained about the noise generated from short-term renters and expressed concern that short-term renters make the neighborhood feel transient. "Each of these impacts may affect the environment by altering the use and character of the neighborhoods thereby subjecting the law to review under SEQRA," Muller said in the judgment. Tony Dawson of the plaintiff Mato Properties, LLC, feels justice was served. "I'm very happy with the ruling," he said. "The Town of Hague is very unique in that they have an existing zoning law that permits us to have an intended use by right to either use, rent, or higher without a duration of the number of days. There was a right way and wrong way to go about this. The correct way would be to amend zoning laws. We did our due diligence before we bought property knowing we could participate in STR that would have grandfathered us in if they would have been able to do whatever they felt was necessary. The wrong way was to do what they did by creating the STR Local Law #1 of 2024, which actually contradicted and competed with our zoning laws. They had laws on the books in their zoning laws they could have used to remedy any of their concerns." The Town of Hague charged a $300 fee for the issuance of an STR permit. Town Supervisor Josh Patchett said that refunds will be issued in accordance with the Town attorney's recommendations and concurrence of the town board. The supervisor preferred not to make any additional comments at this time. "I'm glad the law was overturned and that the judge deemed it illegal to enact," said Dylan Menke, Hague STR owner. "Hopefully, all the fees will be returned to everyone in a timely manner." Dawson would prefer to see STR owners working with the Town of Hague as allies and not adversaries, instead working together to come up with a comprehensive plan that would be beneficial to both year-round residents and seasonal visitors. "There is a pretty large community of STR owners and participants and we are very passionate about the Town of Hague and we are vested," Dawson noted. "There are bigger issues we should be dedicating time, energy, and resources to in making Hague a better place to be and make sustainable during the off-season."

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State Supreme Court deems Hague's Short Term Rental Law invalid

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