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Record of Proceedings

North Salem Planning Board Meeting: Approvals, Referral, and STR Work Session, November 5, 2025

Town Board & Boards — Wednesday, November 5, 2025
BodyNorth Salem, New York
SessionTown Board & Boards
DateWednesday, November 5, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:21:41

Original source
Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:00

You should start.

Unassigned speaker

0:00

I just have time.

Speaker 2

0:01

Okay.

0:02

I'm gonna call the North Salem Planning Board meeting to order.

0:06

The first item on the agenda um Grant Road LLC preliminary subdivision is going to be carrying over the public hearing to the December meeting.

0:17

Um opening up the regular meeting.

0:19

The first item on the agenda is um

Unassigned speaker

0:23

NJ

Speaker 2

0:23

28 Whittier Hill Drive, DeMayo property.

0:26

We're going to acknowledge that there may be a court ordered stay.

0:31

And um we want to make sure that the uh the state does not impact any of the time frames imposed by the planning board.

0:40

So

Unassigned speaker

0:42

uh

Speaker 2

0:42

Lisa, there's no update on this, it's still not

Speaker 3

0:45

yet

Speaker 2

0:46

possibly there.

0:47

Okay.

0:47

Not yet.

0:48

All right, so um resolve that um a stay that may be initiated by the court.

0:59

Um that the North Salem Planning Board's time frames under their approvals in their code will not be affected by the court ordered stay, and that our clock, the planning the North Salem planning board clock will also stop in the time frame of the court's initiation of the stay until the court lifts the stay, and then our clock will resume when the stay is lifted.

1:22

I will make that motion.

1:23

Do I have a second?

Speaker 4

1:25

Second.

Speaker 2

1:26

Thank you.

1:27

Ed, all in favor?

1:28

Aye.

1:30

So Mr.

1:31

DeMeo, um, just to be clear that if there is a stay on your approvals, it's not going to impact the time frames that we have already given

Unassigned speaker

1:41

you

Speaker 2

1:41

for completion of your um project.

1:46

Okay.

1:48

Okay.

1:49

Thank you.

Unassigned speaker

1:51

All

Speaker 2

1:51

right.

1:51

Next item on the agenda is Fisher.

1:55

Um do we have uh Bob, you're with Mr.

1:59

Fisher.

2:00

Okay.

2:00

Uh we have Rich Vale here.

2:03

All right.

2:04

Um what's that?

Speaker 5

2:11

Um

Speaker 1

2:11

yeah,

Speaker 5

2:11

we have the

Speaker 1

2:12

same issue.

2:12

Folks wanted to here it is.

2:14

It's N

Speaker 6

2:15

J A P six.

Speaker 1

2:17

WP S.

Unassigned speaker

2:19

Let's

Speaker 2

2:20

announce it to the book.

Speaker 1

2:21

Yeah, let's tell everyone how to get mess it over.

2:27

Did you get that?

2:28

Did it work?

Unassigned speaker

2:31

I

Speaker 7

2:31

remember that one too.

Speaker 1

2:33

It's really catchy.

2:34

Yes.

2:35

It's really intuitive password, yeah.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Short Term Rentals█████████████████████████████████████████████70%
Zoning And Land Use█████████14%
Legal And Compliance██████10%
Procedural██3%
Insurance██3%
Summary of Proceedings

North Salem Planning Board Meeting: Approvals, Referral, and STR Work Session, November 5, 2025

The North Salem Planning Board met in person and via Zoom on November 5, 2025, at 7:00 PM. The board carried over a public hearing, acted on two Cottage Lane applications, approved routine items, and held a work session on the draft Short-Term Rental (STR) local law.

Public Hearings

  • Grant Road LLC preliminary subdivision (658 Grant Rd.): The public hearing was carried over to the December meeting.

Regular Meeting – Applications

  • DiMaio (28 Whittier Hills Dr.): The board acknowledged a possible court-ordered stay and passed a unanimous motion that any court-ordered stay would not affect the board's approval timeframes. The board's clock will stop for the duration of any stay and resume when the stay is lifted.
  • Fischer (6 Cottage Ln.): The board reviewed memos from MDRA and Han Engineering; the applicant agreed to complete outstanding items as conditions. The architect said second-floor doors open to attic/eaves storage, not an exterior exit. NYC DEP will schedule a site visit and begin application review. The board unanimously approved the wetland permit for 6 Cottage Lane as drafted, with outstanding items as conditions.
  • Watson (10 Cottage Ln.): The applicant is updating the zoning bulk table; stormwater design follows 6 Cottage. Dock access would cross the 42-inch planted strip via a 3-foot-wide gravel pervious walkway. The board voted unanimously to refer the application to the Zoning Board of Appeals for requested variances as outlined in the MDRA memo, as a straight referral without taking a position. The referral must be ready before November 18 for the ZBA's December meeting.

Administrative Approvals

  • Approved the October 2025 financial report.
  • Approved minutes of October 8, 2025, and October 15, 2025.

Work Session: Short-Term Rentals

The board discussed public-hearing comments and written comments from Mr. Nori, including strong resident opinions both for stricter limits and for allowing rentals for economic need.

  • The board chose not to ban non-owner-occupied STRs, preferring to regulate them through special permits, and noted the law can be amended later.
  • It retained the existing one-STR-per-property limit and the 90-day rental allotment, recommending 90 days rather than 60.
  • It rejected a one-week rest period between rentals, a rotating one-year permit system, a six-to-twelve-month waiting period after revocation, a one-space-per-guest parking rule, and an overall guest cap beyond the bedroom-count standard.
  • Ownership language: The board simplified the provision so a principal of an entity is deemed the owner, and will require identification of the specific owner/member who will occupy the property; changes to that designated occupant would require a special permit amendment. Will and Lisa will draft the language.
  • Data reporting: The board will not require STR platforms like Airbnb to list permit status, citing pending appeals and privacy issues.
  • County registry: Members discussed asking the Town Board to encourage the county to opt in to the state registry/enforcement role; the county has not yet decided whether to opt out.
  • Insurance: The board declined to require STR-specific insurance; the state amount is $300,000, the town does not require insurance for other permits, and the town's insurance agent advised against it.
  • Guest register: Lisa will revise the 'upon request' language for privacy and add quarterly log submittal within two weeks after each quarter, with the quarter established at permit issuance.
  • Refuse: Removed 'stored inside a building'; containers must remain secure/wildlife-resistant.
  • Penalties: The board noted state law limits penalties; the pending code update increases existing fine amounts.

Key Outcomes

  • Grant Road public hearing continued to December.
  • DiMaio stay-resolution adopted unanimously.
  • Fischer wetland permit approved unanimously with conditions.
  • Watson referred to the Zoning Board of Appeals; deadline for the referral is November 18.
  • Financial report and October minutes approved.
  • STR local law to be revised and referred back to the Town Board, with drafting by Will and Lisa and final review by the town attorneys.
  • No November 19 work session is needed; the next regular meeting is December 3, 2025.

Meeting Transcript

You should start. I just have time. Okay. I'm gonna call the North Salem Planning Board meeting to order. The first item on the agenda um Grant Road LLC preliminary subdivision is going to be carrying over the public hearing to the December meeting. Um opening up the regular meeting. The first item on the agenda is um NJ 28 Whittier Hill Drive, DeMayo property. We're going to acknowledge that there may be a court ordered stay. And um we want to make sure that the uh the state does not impact any of the time frames imposed by the planning board. So uh Lisa, there's no update on this, it's still not yet possibly there. Okay. Not yet. All right, so um resolve that um a stay that may be initiated by the court. Um that the North Salem Planning Board's time frames under their approvals in their code will not be affected by the court ordered stay, and that our clock, the planning the North Salem planning board clock will also stop in the time frame of the court's initiation of the stay until the court lifts the stay, and then our clock will resume when the stay is lifted. I will make that motion. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Ed, all in favor? Aye. So Mr. DeMeo, um, just to be clear that if there is a stay on your approvals, it's not going to impact the time frames that we have already given you for completion of your um project. Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right. Next item on the agenda is Fisher. Um do we have uh Bob, you're with Mr. Fisher. Okay. Uh we have Rich Vale here. All right. Um what's that? Um yeah, we have the same issue. Folks wanted to here it is. It's N J A P six. WP S.

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