During a recent village board meeting Mayor Jeff Kaplan and the Ellenville trustees discussed proposed revisions to the village's motel/hotel provisions. The changes, should they be voted into law, will have two effects on village government and its relationship with motel/hotel properties: the village will now have more regulatory power over such properties in terms of inspection and safety, and the village will also be able to better keep criminal activity away from these sites, making the entire village and the surrounding area safer for residents.

According to Brian Shug, the Building Code Enforcement officer for the village of Ellenville, the proposal comes partially as a result of concerns from residents of Maple Avenue who came to a village meeting last summer to voice their uneasiness about illegal activities they claimed to have witnessed at the Village Motel on the corner of Maple and Route 209.

"That spurred the board to take a look at what our laws were as far as if we had anything on the books that could try to control a little bit better the clientele that goes into the hotel," says Shug. "Hotels, motels, inns, and boarding houses�are going to be required to have a license now in the village to run or operate their [businesses]."

These licenses will give the village greater control over the properties in terms of who stays there and for how long, and allows village officials to keep the properties from doing business should license requirements not be met. For instance, if one of these properties fails to meet safety and fire codes, their operating licenses can be revoked, forcing them to comply with the village's standards.

Another requirement for a property's eligibility for a license is to keep a ledger or log-book that details the names and permanent addresses of those staying at the property; failure to have these records in place � and available for the village's inspection � results in the license being revoked and the property being closed. This will allow village officials to know who is staying at these properties, and for how long, and is part of an effort to discourage the Ulster County's Department of Social Services from making the village's motels permanent residences for their clients, who are unable to list a permanent residence in the motels' ledgers.

Another part of the law regards how the village can react to criminal activity on the properties. When there is criminal activity in rental property locations, the village will notify the property owner, who then has a certain period of time to try and rectify the situation, after which the tenants can be evicted and the property can be closed until every issue is brought into compliance. Motels and hotels will now be subject to similar standards and will have their licenses revoked should criminal activity go ignored on their properties.

Yet another part of the law-change will prevent people from staying in the properties for longer than 30 consecutive days, or longer than 90 days in a calendar year. Various residents in attendance at the village board meeting raised the question of travelling construction workers, or people displaced from their homes because of damage or repairs. The board responded by asking for additional revisions to the change to allow for people to apply for waivers for such extenuating circumstances.

Calls were made to the Village Motel located on Route 209 in the week following the meeting, but the owner was not available, and the manager declined to comment.

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