By John Francis,
Bruce Peninsula Press
Northern Bruce Peninsula Council passed STA regulations into law on Sept 27, 2021; the regulations came into force on Jan 1, 2022. Based on last summer’s experience, a Staff Report was prepared for Council by the Committee and Licencing Coordinator, suggesting changes to the regulations. That report was made available to the public on letstalknbp.ca, with public comments invited for a period of 30 days beginning Jan 9, 2023. A total of 163 comments were received.
Based on those comments, the Committee and Licencing Coordinator made two significant changes to her recommendations. The number of people allowed in an STA was raised from two per bedroom to two per bedroom plus two. This change reflects the needs of families with small children who are accustomed to sleeping in the same room with their parents. The other change was to remove the recommendation of a cap on the number of STAs in the municipality.
As of March 8, MNBP had received 422 applications for STA licences; 339
licences had been issued (including two which were subsequently revoked due to bylaw violations).
Discussing this report at the March 13 Meeting, Councillors wondered if a hard cap on STA numbers might still be a good idea. How many STAs are out there? Committee and Licencing Coordinator Lindsay Forbes said that her best guess was about 650 — earlier reports giving larger numbers probably included quite a bit of duplication.
Deputy Mayor Rod Anderson stated that we need to force STA operators out of the woodwork, show them we’re serious about this industry and we’re going to bring in controls. Councillor Smokey Golden agreed with this. Councillor Aman Sohrab wondered what other municipalities are doing. Those who attended the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association (ROMA) conference earlier this winter noted that caps are popular. Mayor Milt McIver suggested that with the revised numbers Lindsay was offering, perhaps a cap of 650 properties was enough. After further discussion, Council decided on a cap of 700.
Councillor Todd Dowd was more concerned with limiting the number of Class C STAs (large buildings with multiple bedrooms that rent all year) than with overall STA numbers.
Councillor Smokey Golden brought up another issue: length of stay. “This industry started as weekly rentals,” she pointed out. It has changed over time to the point that some properties are renting for only one or two nights at a time. “That’s a motel,” she stated. “We need to look at a minimum number of nights stay; we have motels for our transients and that’s where one or two night stays should go.” Councillor Dowd agreed enthusiastically; the other Councillors were willing to have this discussion. Minimum stay limits of two days and three days were discussed.
The subject of enforcing STA regulations was discussed at length. One thing that will make investigations easier this year is the firm requirement that all STA properties must include their licence number in all advertising.
Dispute and complaints resolutions and mechanisms were discussed. The Committee and Licencing Coordinator noted that many complaints are lodged after the fact, which makes them difficult or impossible to validate.
Councillor Golden pointed out that it is important to move forward quickly on any changes that will affect bookings for this year because many operators are already booking. It was agreed that no major changes would be implemented until after the summer season.
The Committee and Licencing Coordinator will bring another report to Council incorporating Council’s suggestions.
