The Town of Southampton plans to ease its short-term rental rules during next year’s U.S. Open Golf Championship at Shinnecock Hills to allow for minimum stays of\u00a0three days.<\/p>\n
Under current law, homeowners in the town cannot rent\u00a0their properties on platforms such as Airbnb or Vrbo for less\u00a0than two weeks. During a public meeting with tournament organizers, officials agreed to allow stays of at least three days for the duration of the championship, which is scheduled for June 18-21. Practice rounds start\u00a0on June 15.<\/p>\n
Ryan Murphy, Southampton\u2019s public safety administrator, said local real estate agents\u00a0have approached\u00a0his office about the regulations so they can begin to advertise\u00a0rentals. The town\u2019s code\u00a0allows the board to temporarily amend its regulations for a \u201cregionally significant event.\u201d The town board used the code provision to suspend its minimum\u00a0stay requirement\u00a0in 2018, the last time the U.S. Open was held at Shinnecock Hills<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more people that we can have staying locally \u2014 whether that’s attendees, whether that’s players, whether that’s vendors and sponsors … the more we can reduce the traffic volume coming from west to east during the time period of the Open,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n The U.S. Open is one of professional golf’s\u00a0four major tournaments, and caused traffic jams<\/a> on major roads in Southampton in 2018. Michael Iasilli, a town councilman, said Southampton Police leadership is already preparing traffic management plans for the event.<\/p>\n The U.S Open is expected to bring a daily peak attendance of about\u00a040,000 \u2014 including golfers, staff and spectators \u2014 U.S. Golf Association tournament manager John Ryan Celiberti told Newsday.<\/p>\n The USGA aims to reduce car traffic\u00a0as much as possible by establishing shuttle bus services to and from parking lots at local businesses and from local Long Island Rail Road stations,\u00a0Celiberti said.<\/p>\n The USGA is also negotiating with Riverhead Town to use runways at the Calverton Enterprise Park as a parking area, Celiberti said. Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard said the town met with the USGA\u00a0but has not finalized an agreement.<\/p>\n Like the town, Southampton Village has a ban on rentals for less than two weeks. But the code, which was adopted earlier this year<\/a>,\u00a0contains an exception allowing homeowners to rent for a weeklong period\u00a0twice a year.\u00a0Village Mayor Bill Manger said in a text message he\u00a0anticipates\u00a0homeowners to use that exception in the code\u00a0when the U.S. Open comes to town.<\/p>\n Southampton officials said the tournament should provide an economic boost to the town.<\/p>\n Councilwoman Cyndi McNamara said she already knows of residents planning to rent out their homes during the tournament and use the extra income to take a vacation \u2014 and avoid the heavy traffic.<\/p>\n