OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Town of Dunkirk resident Jay Warren revisited the short-term rental debate at a recent meeting of the Town Board.

In early July, the Town of Dunkirk passed a local law to restrict short-term rental properties from operating in the residential districts of the Town. Upon its approval, Town Board member Jean Crane turned to the audience of residents in attendance and joked, “I just want to know what you’re going to do with your Tuesdays now.”

Then the State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division had other ideas, and the crowd went right back to its usual Tuesday evening plans at the Town Hall.

Town of Dunkirk residents Jay Warren and Sue Hazelton each spoke at a recent Town of Dunkirk Board meeting regarding the Appellate Court’s ruling to overturn the Town’s short-term rental law. The ruling was delivered in November.

The Appellate Court ruling reversed a 2022 judgment by local judge Grace Hanlon, who ruled in favor of the Town, and against Jennifer Friedman, a short-term rental property owner in the Town. Residents of the Town frequently criticized the operation of Friedman’s rental property, while Friedman was in attendance at a public hearing to offer her defense of her property rights.

Warren and Hazelton each brought with them a newspaper article referencing short-term rental properties, while Hazelton also brought her own customary letter. Dunkirk Town resident Phil Leone also often spoke on the matter at previous meetings.

Leone now sits on the Town Board after being elected in November, but he was unable to attend the recent meeting due to a family matter.

During the latest public comment portion of the Town Board meeting, Warren highlighted an OBSERVER article written by M.J. Stafford, titled, “State court allows rentals in town,” which ran in late November. Warren asked if the Town Board planned to issue a response to the article to reaffirm the Town’s position on the matter. He hopes for a response at the next regular Town Board meeting in February.

Town Supervisor Priscilla Penfold responded after Warren and Hazelton’s comments concluded. “We are aware of those things, and I’m doing what I can,” she said.

Hazelton brought her own newspaper clipping, an opinion piece from the Buffalo News in opposition of short-term rental properties. She began by stating, “I know that we are tired of talking about short-term rentals. … but there is something that is just bothering me, and I want to express it.”

After reading the commentary she pulled from the Buffalo News aloud, Hazelton reaffirmed her belief that short-term rentals are businesses which should not be permitted in residential districts. “That’s my big issue. It’s a business, period. There is no way of getting around it,” Hazelton said.

Hazelton also thanked her fellow residents of her community of Woodlands Drive, the Town Board, and Judge Hanlon for the time and effort they spent on the matter over the past two-plus years. Her other thank you, however, was not as sincere.

“Thank you to the New York State Supreme Court for throwing Judge Hanlon’s judgment down the drain,” Hazelton said. “… It looks like the State never considered our comments and our views, or all the meetings with support of our neighbors.”

Other speakers at the meeting included Irene Strychalski, who inquired about future sites of Dunkirk-Fredonia Rotary Club chicken barbecues; Gary Hazelton, who thanked the Town and the local Fire Departments for cleanup efforts after recent major storms; and Barbara Warren, who thanked the Board for its willingness to serve the Town residents.

“It has always been a beautiful place to live and to raise a family. Our neighborhood is very unique and very special,” Barbara Warren said.