The city’s Intergovernmental Affairs Committee most-recent draft of a summer-rental ordinance would forbid a short-term rental unit within 300 feet of another.

The measure, designed to protect single-family residential neighborhoods, may be considered by the Oneonta Common Council in August.

We commend the IGA for proposing a law with clear terms for the proximity of such units. Density, with its associated issues of traffic and noise, has been the major concern arising with the increasing number of Oneonta homes rented to families of baseball campers.

A clear, specific regulatory foundation is needed to provide equitable reviews and approvals. Property owners wanting to rent units need to plan and arrange for required certificates of compliance, and they and their neighbors need to know the ground rules and appeals process.

This year, some of the 29 approved summer rentals were first denied under current regulations because they were within a 200-foot radius of a second summer rental, but the denials were overturned on appeal.

The revised ordinance would require certificates of compliance for owner-occupied homes as well as rental homes, a $250 application fee or a $100 renewal fee, among other conditions. It sets criteria under which an application may be denied by the Planning Commission, and as under the current ordinance, appeals would be heard by the Board of Public Service.

The IGA has worked successfully toward developing a law with the goal of fostering non-adversarial relationships between year-round residents, rental-property owners and their tenants.

We urge the Common Council to continue a thorough, public and timely review of the IGA’s proposal.

Programs help children enjoy the summer

As George and Ira Gershwin wrote, it’s "summertime, and the living is easy."

But that doesn’t mean kids off from school are sitting around doing nothing _ in fact, far from it.

In our area, CROP programs, arts camps, sports camps, Scout camps, other camps, recreation programs, swimming lessons, summer school, Vacation Bible Schools and summer jobs are keeping plenty of young people busy.

That’s a good thing.

Those opportunities can be a good way for children to make friends and keep learning during the summer months, ideally helping reduce the readjustment necessary when school starts back up in the fall.

And kids seem to prefer being busy to being bored at home all day.

Given how many parents work outside the home during the summer, we’re grateful for programs such as those that give kids a safe, fun place to go.

But, we also hope everyone gets a chance to relax.

Even if families can’t take a long vacation, we encourage parents to get their kids outside to play, just for fun.

Take a weekend trip to a park, or to a county fair or the state fair.

When it’s time to go back to school, we hope kids are refreshed from their summer and ready to go.