Tourist rooming house gets its license back

A Crescent Lake tourist rooming house that had its license suspended August 2 for multiple and ongoing violations has its license back now that the 60-day suspension has run its course and the Oneida County zoning committee declined to extend the suspension or pursue revocation.

At last week’s zoning committee meeting, Oneida County zoning director Karl Jennrich said he had met with Crescent Lake Getaway owner Tony Venus and they produced a set of conditions to assure compliance.

Beyond that, the committee essentially threw up its hands as Venus’s neighbors say he continued to violate his old permit conditions during the suspension — when he was not allowed to rent short-term — while Venus himself professed his innocence of the allegations.

At one point, committee chairman Scott Holewinski underscored the committee’s dilemma by asking the assistant corporation counsel: “Who do we believe?”

The assistant counsel, Chad Lynch, said that was a loaded question. He observed that, since the suspension, Venus had entered into two separate month-long rentals, for which he does not have to have a permit.

“As far as who to believe, that’s up to you guys,” Lynch said. “I mean it’s difficult. The information I’ve seen, I’ve seen the long-term rental agreement for the month of September. I haven’t seen the one for October. Without looking at and going through the signatures or contacting those people, it looks like it’s a normal month-to-month lease.”

Lynch said zoning staff had forwarded additional reports and documents showing that law enforcement had gone to the house on at least one occasion, after a complaint that 12 people were there.

“And it’s my understanding from the report that law enforcement reported back that there weren’t 12 people at the house and not really sure where that number came from,” he said. “But you guys need to look and determine if he has come into compliance. That’s the biggest thing, it was 60 days or until he’s come into compliance.”

Lynch suggested that the evidence presented by the neighbors was thin at best.

“And a lot of the information that’s been received, I have not seen any pictures of cars or the cameras coming and going or any of that actual evidence,” he said. “I’ve seen the binder, the stuff in the binder. It’s my understanding all the advertisements for shorter stays have been taken down and that information, actual evidence is what you guys need to look at and determine. And again, 60 days is up. So unless there’s actual evidence to the contrary, I don’t know how we would continue the suspension of the permit.”

That said, the neighbors continued to insist he was renting short-term during the suspension. The zoning department had asked Venus for the names of those coming and going from the property during that time — that was not turned over as of the meeting — and Jennrich said the neighbors had turned over to the department photographic evidence from a neighbor’s camera, but, he said, Venus professed not to know who many of the people were.

“He said, ‘I don’t know who that one is,’” Jennrich said. “Some he knew. Some he didn’t. Again, the way that camera’s positioned, it’s right at the end of this driveway. So you’ve got to look at the angle of the vehicle. If it’s started going straight, it’s going possibly to the same car. Who is it? It’s coming down his driveway, yes, it may be someone coming to his property. Again, the story I was told is that he had a long-term rental that they were in their 80s and they had family coming to that property and there was also some other people that were there. They were nonpaying guests, if you want to call them that.”

So there were comings and goings, as the neighbors alleged, but then Jennrich reiterated that during the suspension Venus has had long-term monthly contracts for the properties. A long-term rental is the same as a residential month-to-month lease, he said, and for those the county cannot regulate how many people are at the property.

Jennrich said he was asked if, in a single family residence, he could restrict the occupancy to the same as he could for a tourist rooming house (TRH). 

“So the maximum occupancy of this structure could be no more than six people,” he said. “All I stated is that in the 25 years since we’ve had the ordinance, or since I’ve been here, we have not regulated the number of people in a single family home. That’s all I’m saying. There are people that may have a wedding anniversary, they may have whatever events at their house. They may have a lot of people, and I’ve gotten complaints on that over the years, and I’ve just stated that if it’s a weekend event, family, friends, whatever, they’re not paying to go there and I don’t regulate. It’s a normal use of a single-family home.”

And that drove to the crux of the matter. How could you regulate a party at someone’s home? supervisor Bob Almekinder asked. And, for a short-term rental, who is to say who is coming and going and who might be staying?

Supervisor Mike Roach suggested the ordinance was beyond enforceability.

“I don’t think you can regulate this stuff,” Roach said. “I have it in my neighborhood, too. I totally agree with you guys. It’s not right. I can tell Mr. Venus that his whole neighborhood is mad at him. This is the way the rule is and we can’t go give tickets for speeding because somebody says, ‘I saw somebody speeding.’ You can make a citizen’s arrest. But we have to be able to catch people doing that and to start putting cameras up seems really off to me in this country. I don’t like that at all.”

If it was a safety thing, Roach continued, it would be a different situation.

“Shooting guns is a safety issue,” he said. “That’s when you call the police. But otherwise I don’t call the police because my neighbor’s got 12 cars there. I go talk to them.”

Roach said an impasse had been reached because each side was insisting the other side was wrong.

“So somebody’s lying here,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter to me at this point. We’re not going to be in this position to figure out who’s lying. We have to enforce the law on the rules and we got to catch people doing it. I don’t know what else we could do.”

The committee ultimately decided there was not enough evidence to continue the suspension, and so it took no action, meaning Venus is back in business.

Flytrap

Prior to the meeting, Jennrich had been given direction to meet with Venus and capture a set of rules and practices that would assure the neighbors would not be subject to disruption, and Jennrich led off the discussion with an email he sent to Venus following his meeting with him, summarizing their get together.

Given that the neighbors complained of ongoing short-term rentals during the suspension, Jennrich said he had asked Venus for a list of those coming and going to and from the property during the first long-term rental.

“They [the long-term rental family] had family members during that time,” Jennrich said, reading an email summary of his discussion with Venus. “You were going to reach out to them to get who may have been visiting. Furthermore, you were going to get some specifics on who was in the residence after they left.”

Those lists had not been submitted by the time of last week’s meeting.

“You have waste management of all garbage,” Jennrich read. “When you have had short-term renters, you asked them to roll the garbage to the curb for pickup. There may have been instances [when] containers were not brought back to the house. You were never contacted by the neighbors; they just filed a complaint with the county.”

Jennrich said Venus maintained that he has a welcome binder consisting of about a dozen pages. 

“You brought [it] to the last meeting but were not given the opportunity to show it,” he read. “In it you have your contact information, resident agent information, permits, house rules, fishing information, snowmobile information.”

To control noise, Venus agreed to install a MINUT, a device that would alert Venus if there was a certain level of noise and crowding at the property.

“It senses when decibels get above a certain point to the house and if people are smoking in the house,” Jennrich said.

Venus also agreed to have refrigerator magnets to hand out to neighbors with his contact information and that of the property’s resident agent. He also said that, inside the driveway, he would have a sign not to turn left, which leads to the end of a cul-de-sac on a private road.

In addition, Jennrich said Venus would install a ring camera to monitor the front door and the door leading to the lake so he could tell who is coming and going if there is a big party on the deck. 

“You also stated Memorial (Day) weekend may have been a problem with noise, but your rentals left early because of being harassed by the neighbors,” Jennrich read.

Neighborly

The neighbors said they have been keeping an eye out, and they insist Venus had continued to rent short-term. They also said that, based on his answers at an August 2 zoning meeting, they did not believe he had any intention to follow rules and regulations.

“He actually stated that the local market isn’t substantial enough for a seven-day occupancy and that the shorter-term date is best for his business,” Crescent Lake property owner Tom Irwin said. “He expressed that he doesn’t have any personal contact with the renters beforehand. He has no screening capabilities for his client as long as they have the deposits covered.”

So, Irwin asked, who is overseeing the operation on a day-to-day basis? 

“He stated a number of times that his cameras is how he watches his operation from 80 miles away,” he said. “With that being said, I feel that reinstating his permit will follow the same pattern again as he’s only interested in following the path of most profit at his neighbors’ expense. I personally feel his integrity and intentions on being honest with your committee as well as his neighbors is his last concern.”

Irwin urged the committee to deny the permit permanently.

Tanya Borst said the county might not be able to keep an eye on every rental, but it should give weight to the consistent and ongoing testimony of neighboring residents.

“I hope that you have listened to the complaints and the problems that have developed in less than the year that he has been renting,” Borst said. “I hope that you have seen, although the county says that they cannot monitor every rental property on a daily basis, the fact that neighbors have come to all three or four of these meetings now and shared the same stories. I hope that you guys can see that maybe it’s us telling the truth and not the one individual who’s just looking to fill his pockets at our expense.”

In a letter, Kristine Rank said it was obvious Venus was in violation.

“You can ask any one of the three residents who reside on the road, the property had many different people coming and going every two to three days,” Rank wrote. “The people were not related or associated. Different fishing boats of groups of people every two to three days. There was supposed to be no rental for 60 days. Mr. Venus, once again, is not following the law.”

Rank wrote that the main issue at hand was that he rents his property for a length of stay that is supposed to be six nights and never has been. 

“From the moment Mr. Venus has owned the property, it has always been two- to three-night stays,” she wrote. “The amount of people in the house has been 13, which is against the law.”

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.