[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Cortlandt 8-13-2019 by L.L. No. 3-2019. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The terms used in this chapter are hereby defined as follows:
ANNUAL QUARTER
The standard calendar quarters that make up the year are as follows:
A. 
January, February, and March (Q1).
B. 
April, May, and June (Q2).
C. 
July, August, and September (Q3).
D. 
October, November, and December (Q4).
BUSINESS OF CONDUCTING HOTELS
The renting, leasing, maintaining, keeping, operating, conducting or providing of overnight or temporary sleeping or housing accommodations for a consideration to tourists, transients, nontransients or travelers, collectively "guests," in a single building or structure comprising at least three floors devoted exclusively to said business, commonly known as "hotels."
BUSINESS OF CONDUCTING MOTELS
The renting, leasing, maintaining, keeping, operating, conducting or providing of overnight or temporary sleeping or housing accommodations for a consideration to tourists, transients or travelers, collectively "guests," in any building or structure or group of buildings or structures comprising less than three floors devoted exclusively to said business, commonly known as "motels," "tourist lodges," "tourist cabins," "motor lodges," "motor courts," "tourist courts" or "tourist camps," whether meals are served therein or not.
HOTEL
A building or part of a building, comprised of at least three floors, containing no less than 30 or more guest rooms or suites ("guest units") offering transient or nontransient temporary residence for compensation.
MORAL TURPITUDE
For purposes of this chapter, the normative definition of "moral turpitude" shall also include any sex offense, prostitution offense or sex trafficking offense defined under New York State Penal Law.
MOTEL
A building or part of a building, comprised of less than three floors, containing three or more guest rooms or suites ("guest units") offering temporary residence for compensation, only for transient guests. This includes the "adult motels" as defined elsewhere in the Cortlandt Town Code.
NONTRANSIENT (LONG-TERM)
Occupancy of a unit or property by a guest or renter for periods in excess of 30 consecutive days within a calendar year.
OWNER
Any person who owns more than a de minimis share of a dwelling's equitable, or legal, title; or any person who has been given an ownership interest in a dwelling and is able to fully act and alter a property as someone who owns a dwelling's equitable or legal title would.
OWNER-OCCUPIED DWELLING
A dwelling occupied by its owner or by members of his or her family on a nonrental basis.
TRANSIENT (SHORT-TERM)
Occupancy of a unit or property by a guest for not more than 30 days within any annual year.
A. 
All transient/short-term rentals, not permitted or excepted by this section, are strictly prohibited. Amongst other things, this prohibition applies to any dwelling with three or more rental units and any owner-occupied dwelling not excepted by this section.
B. 
Applicants seeking to obtain any operating permit must comply with all applicable laws, ordinances, codes and regulations, including obtaining relevant permits from other authorities having jurisdiction, including but not limited to the New York State/Westchester County Department of Health.
C. 
The following requirements for any building or structure erected, operated and/or used as a hotel or motel are mandatory and are not subject to local variance.
(1) 
Both hotels and motels.
(a) 
No person shall engage in the business of conducting hotels or motels without first having applied for and obtained from the Town of Cortlandt an operating permit.
[1] 
No operating permit shall be issued to any person who has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
[2] 
No operating permit shall be issued to any entity where 5% or more of any of its shares, equity or any right to remuneration is owned by a person who has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
[3] 
No operating permit shall be issued to any person or entity having a director or officer who has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
(b) 
Hotels and motels may include a manager's unit and incidental amenities and services customarily provided by hotels and motels to managers, provided it meets the requirements of a dwelling unit.
(c) 
All hotel and motel managers and front desk persons must be designated as a person upon whom process may be served. A manager or a front desk person must be on premises at all times.
(2) 
Hotels.
(a) 
Transient/short-term rentals are permitted in hotels;
(b) 
Nontransient/long-term stays are permitted in hotels, provided that the occupancy of a hotel unit by a guest does not exceed 90 days within any two annual quarters;
(c) 
Hotel applicants shall relate to a building, or part of a building, comprised of at least three floors, containing no less than 30 or more guest units.
(d) 
Each hotel sleeping room or unit shall have full bathroom facilities, including toilet, basin, tub and/or shower.
(e) 
Hotels may have nontransient/long-term guests for a period in excess of 90 consecutive days if they fall into one of these defined exceptions:
[1] 
Corporate guest: A guest registered at a hotel via a corporate account for business-related stay or a long-term project;
[2] 
Humanitarian guest: A guest registered at a hotel who has a permanent residence other than the hotel but requires occupancy away from his/her permanent residence due to a state or city evacuation or residential disaster caused by fire, flood, infestation or other similar disaster, but in no event shall such stay exceed 180 days; or
[3] 
Circumstance-driven guest: A guest registered at a hotel who has a permanent residence other than the hotel but requires occupancy away from his/her permanent resident due to home reconstruction or renovations, marital separation or divorce, medical treatment or other similar circumstances, but in no event shall such stay exceed 180 days.
(f) 
Nontransient/long-term guests, upon registering at a hotel, must provide the hotel with registration information, including but not limited to a) the type of nontransient guest category (corporate, humanitarian, circumstance-driven), b) a primary residence address that is not the hotel's address, and c) the ages and school enrollment of any minors/children. If any school-age children of nontransient guests are attending school during the duration of their time as a guest in the hotel, school enrollment shall be based on the guests' primary residence address, not the address of the hotel.
(3) 
Motels.
(a) 
Transient/short-term rentals are permitted in motels;
(b) 
Nontransient/long-term stays are prohibited in motels;
(c) 
Motel applicants shall relate to a building, or part of a building, comprised of no more than three floors and shall have three or more guest units.
(d) 
Each motel sleeping room or unit shall have full bathroom facilities, including toilet, basin, tub and/or shower.
(e) 
No kitchen or cooking facilities and no cooking may be provided or permitted in any motel room or unit.
(f) 
A motel may contain no less than three rental units, arranged in one or more buildings of less than three floors in any such building(s).
D. 
Single- and two-family owner-occupied properties may only engage in nontransient/long-term rentals and do not require a permit under this section.
E. 
Landlords of single- and two-family properties having three or fewer rental units may only engage in nontransient/long-term rentals and do not require a permit under this section.
F. 
Dwellings with three or more rental units may only engage in nontransient/long-term rentals and do not require a permit under this section.
G. 
Bed-and-breakfasts who have received a special permit and are otherwise in compliance with the Cortlandt Town Code, the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Cortlandt and the Table of Permitted Uses, are exempt from complying with this chapter.
H. 
Hospitals, nursing homes/assisted living facilities, universities, colleges, seminaries, rectories, state-sponsored group homes that are otherwise in compliance with the Cortlandt Town Code (or when applicable/superseding the New York State Code), its Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Cortlandt and its Table of Permitted Uses, are exempt from complying with this chapter.
Each applicant for an operating permit shall make a written application on forms prescribed and supplied by the Department of Code Enforcement, setting forth:
A. 
The full name, residence and post office address of the applicant.
B. 
The exact location of the proposed permitted premises, giving the street address, section, block and lot numbers as shown on the current Tax Assessment Map of the Town, and the exact dimensions of the lands upon which the business is to be conducted.
C. 
A description of the buildings, structures and accommodations upon said lands, including a statement of the number of guest units and the maximum number of persons who can be accommodated at any given time; a description of the character of said buildings or structures as to size and type of construction; and a description of automobile parking space and facilities.
D. 
The name and address of each and every person having an ownership interest in the land's structures.
E. 
The name or names of the person or persons on the permitted premises upon whom process may be served, including all managers or front desk persons.
F. 
A detailed description of the register or system used for the registration of persons to whom accommodations are extended.
G. 
Whether any person constituting the individual or partnership applicant or whether the corporate applicant or any equity holder holding 5% or more of the equity thereof or any director or officer thereof has ever been convicted of a crime, and, if so, the details thereof, including, with respect to each conviction, the name of the person convicted, the date thereof, the nature of the crime, the court in which the conviction was entered and the punishment imposed.
H. 
In the case of legal entities (non-real live persons), the names and residences of all stock or equity holders holding 5% or more of the stock or equity of the entity, the names and residences of all officers of the entity and the office held by each. In the case of a trust, the names and addresses of all those with interests in the trust must be listed. The names and addresses of the executor, trustor and settlor shall also be listed.
The Department of Technical Services, Code Enforcement Division, shall review such application and shall inspect the premises to determine whether or not the premises comply with ordinances, laws, codes and regulations. If the premises do not so comply, said officers shall attach to said application a written list of recommendations and shall return the same to the applicant. If the premises do so comply, said officers shall attach thereto certificates of approval, and the Town Clerk shall issue a permit to operate the hotel or motel to the applicant.
A. 
A fee for said operating permit shall be paid annually to the Town Clerk in an amount as set forth by the Town Board as same may be amended from time to time.
B. 
Said operating permit fee is hereby declared to be for the purpose of defraying the cost of administering the laws or regulations pertaining to the operation of hotels and motels.
A. 
Any operating permit under the provisions of this chapter shall be for a term of one year commencing on the date that the operating permit is issued.
B. 
Each operating permit shall be valid only to the applicant to whom it is issued. All operating permits shall be displayed at a prominent place on the premises.
C. 
Any change in any of the information set forth in the application during the term of the operating permit shall forthwith be communicated by the permitted entity, in writing, to the Town of Cortlandt Code Enforcement Division.
D. 
Any known crime of moral turpitude or known felony offense under the New York State Penal Law occurring on premises shall be communicated by the permitted entity, in writing, to the Town of Cortlandt Code Enforcement Division.
E. 
Upon transference of the property to a new owner, or upon the sale of a substantial interest, or upon the change of a controlling interest, a new updated operating permit will be required within 30 days of any event.
A. 
Each permitted entity shall at all times cause to be maintained on the permitted premises a physical and electronic register. Said register shall be preserved for 10 years upon the permitted premises.
B. 
The permitted person or entity shall cause to be entered into the register the number or name of the guest unit assigned to each registrant, the date and hour of registration, a brief description or designation of the identification displayed to the permitted person, entity or their authorized agent by the registrant pursuant to Subsection B hereof, the signature of the person taking or accepting the registration and the date when the occupant or occupants of each guest unit quit and surrender the same.
C. 
Records of the make, model, and license plate number of all cars parked at the hotel or motel shall be kept as part of the register.
D. 
Said register shall be kept and preserved by the permitted person or entity and shall be available on request at any hour of the day or night to any police officer or any other duly authorized agent of the governing body of the Town of Cortlandt.
A. 
It shall be the duty of the Director of Code Enforcement of the Town of Cortlandt to inspect (or have inspected) the premises from time to time, at any hour of the day or night, to determine that the provisions of this chapter are being complied with.
B. 
At a minimum, the Director of Code Enforcement of the Town of Cortlandt shall inspect (or have inspected) the premises at least once per annual quarter.
No permitted person or entity shall employ in, on or about the permitted premises any person convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude within a period of five years from the date of conviction.
Any permit issued under this chapter may be suspended or revoked for any violation of this chapter after due notice of the charges presented by the Department of Code Enforcement and a hearing by the Cortlandt Zoning Board of Appeals at which hearing the interested persons shall be afforded a public hearing. Any denial of a permit application, or adverse determination by the Department of Code Enforcement, arising under this chapter may likewise be appealed to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
A. 
Any person, corporation, limited liability company, or partnership, whether as owner, lessee or its agent or employee, who violates or is accessory to the violation of any provision of this chapter or any regulation made under the authority conferred by this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to the same enforcement requirements, including the civil and criminal penalties, provided for in Chapters 149 and 307 of the Town Code.
B. 
Each day during which any violation of the provisions of this chapter continues shall constitute a separate offense, punishable as provided in this chapter.
C. 
Depending on the prevalence of multiple violations, the Director of Code Enforcement may deem each and every effected hotel or motel unit as constituting a separate and distinct violation.