By John Francis
The Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula hosted a pair of Public Meetings on August 25 to get a sample of public opinion on the subject of Short-Term Accommodations. Michael Wynia of Skelton Brumwell and Associates acted as presenter and emcee for the 1:00-3:00PM meeting at Lion’s Head Community Centre (arena) and the 5:00-7:00PM meeting at the Community Centre in Tobermory.
Approximately 38 people attended the Lion’s Head event, where the tenor of the meeting was described as “collaborative”. Approximately 60 people attended the meeting at Tobermory, where things were a bit more polarized and confrontational.
All of Council were present at both meetings except for Councillor Megan Myles who owns an STA business and has declared a conflict of interest on the issue.
Similar concerns were expressed at both meetings.
Proponents of STAs demanded that statistics be produced proving that STAs pose a problem. At Tobermory, they were audibly unsatisfied with the explanation that there is no registry of STAs so it is not possible to attribute complaints. STA proponents also claimed that residents and cottagers cause at least as many problems as STA tenants. Again, with no records of what properties are rentals, this claim could neither be supported nor refuted. Several people proclaimed that there is no problem and the whole STA study (rumoured to cost somewhere over $150,000) is a complete waste of money. (Bruce Peninsula Press verified that the actual cost of the study is less than $25,000.)
Opponents of STAs complained about losing the character of their neighbourhoods. With a constant stream of new faces, you never know what to expect. “I can’t work it out every weekend with a new set of neighbours,” was one comment. “You can’t just walk over and talk to an absentee landlord,” said another. “What about unsubstantiated complaints?” demanded an STA proponent. Many times complaints are unreasonable and nothing illegal is being done.
It became apparent that the largest number of complaints concerned “landlord absent” overnight rentals rather than “landlord nearby” weekly rentals. Framed differently, a distinction was made between cottages and investment properties.
“Do we know how many absentee owned STAs there are in the municipality?” We do not, explained Wynia. We know from internet advertising that there are somewhat more than 600 properties offered for rent but little more is known; that is one of the purposes of this study. Wynia also suggested that the owners of “landlord absent” investment properties were probably not at the meeting.
A number of people agreed that huge, purpose-built rental cottages are businesses and that they should be regulated and taxed as businesses. Several people were scandalized to find out that such properties “pay the same tax as me”.
Is there any way to limit the percentage of STAs in a neighbourhood? A consensus seemed to form around the idea of limiting STAs in any given area to 20% or 30% .
Michael Wynia offered a few surprises. Short-Term Rentals are technically illegal in Northern Bruce Peninsula. Under the existing Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw, only explicitly permitted uses are allowed. Short-Term Rentals are not among the list of permitted uses and are therefore not legal. Furthermore, if a property is changed from a family cottage to a Short-Term Rental, that is a change in use. Changes of use are never permitted unless a property meets all CURRENT building codes. This is a Provincial regulation, not a local one, he continued.
Regulating STAs is difficult under current bylaws because several different sets of regulations overlap. It would be much smoother if there were a separate set of licencing regulations with clear consequences for violations. The regulations and fines would have to be loose enough not to inconvenience responsible landlords while having enough teeth to control irresponsible ones. Consequences would have to be more than just “the cost of doing business”. This could include cancelling a property’s licence to operate.
“But what if a property was booked and paid for in advance?” demanded an STA supporter; the consequences would be dire. You could see shock on some faces at the prospect of lost operating licences; others seemed quite happy at the prospect.
The STA survey can be found on the MNBP website: www.northbrucepeninsula.ca
