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Council pauses plan to shift short-term rental reviews from zoning board to code enforcement
Summary
A proposed ordinance change (Resolution PL 29-25) that would stop automatically referring short-term rental applications to the zoning board drew discussion; committee members expressed concerns about removing zoning-board review and asked staff to research legal and procedural implications before proceeding.
The committee reviewed a proposed amendment (referred to in the meeting as Resolution PL 29-25 / P L 29-25) to the City of Olean ordinance that would remove the requirement to refer short-term rental (STR) permit applications to the Zoning Board of Appeals. The change under consideration would move initial STR review to the code-enforcement office rather than the zoning board.
Several members argued the Zoning Board of Appeals provides a public, nonpolitical forum where neighbors can raise concerns and where revoked approvals are enforceable; they said leaving review with the zoning board gives residents greater opportunity to be heard. Other members replied that the zoning board does not perform enforcement—complaints still go to code enforcement—and that code enforcement already has authority to act when a property accumulates multiple valid complaints. The committee discussed the city’s current trigger for enforcement (three complaints in a calendar year) and how revocation processes would operate in practice.
Committee members asked staff to research the legal mechanics, including whether a zoning-board approval requires unanimity to change and how enforcement and revocation would operate under the proposed amendment. The item was returned to staff for further study and to be placed back on the agenda after additional information was gathered.
