Saratoga Springs City Council set a public hearing and scheduled a vote tomorrow on proposed local law No. 4, a text amendment to the city's Unified Development Ordinance to regulate short-term rentals.

Mayor Safford said the law will be enacted June 1 and will include a 90-day grace period; staff expect the online registration portal to open in mid-May so property owners can apply and be scheduled for inspections. Building department staff raised a concern about a parking provision in the draft ordinance and the mayor said he would bring a friendly amendment at the council table to address it.

The amendment under consideration would change the parking standard, which in the current draft reads that maximum off-street parking for a short-term rental shall be either one parking space per guest room or the number of existing improved parking spaces, whichever is greater. Building department staff told the council that in some parts of the city — notably the urban core — required parking is satisfied by on-street spaces and that the language could unintentionally limit properties that rely on on-street parking. The mayor asked staff to propose wording that exempts properties where required parking is satisfied by on-street parking; he said he would introduce that change when the council considers the local law.

Officials described the implementation as a multi-department effort that will include the Department of Public Safety for inspections. Council members and staff said the city has identified roughly 1,400 online listings across more than 70 platforms and that the first outreach letters to owners would begin before registrations open. City staff said registrations and payments will be handled online and that inspections will be scheduled on a rolling basis; as long as a property owner is registered, staff said they will be scheduled for inspection and will not be penalized immediately.

Commissioner Cole noted the council's effort to codify short-term rentals as a permitted secondary use in zoning while distinguishing that housing stock's primary residential use remains unchanged. City staff emphasized that licensing is a registration process and zoning provides the actual land-use permission.

The council left the record open for public comment and directed staff to prepare the parking language for consideration at the next meeting. No final vote on the text amendment occurred during this session; the council scheduled the vote for the next meeting.