Georgian Bluffs council has been presented the first draft of a short-term rental accommodations licensing program.
At its committee of the whole meeting on Wednesday, council supported the first draft with some feedback on potential adjustments. The plan is for the final framework to be presented for council’s approval in September. The licensing program would then be soft launched at that time and be in place for the 2025 season.
At its meeting on Wednesday, Deputy CAO and Director of Corporate Services Brittany Drury presented a report outlining the draft of the program, which has been in the works for close to two years now.
Drury emphasized that the document presented on Wednesday was simply the first draft, and any feedback from council and the community was being taken into consideration.
The draft proposes a fee of $500 for STRAs operated in a primary residence and $750 for STRAs in secondary residences. There is a proposed fee of $200 for each STRA in an accessory unit.
Those looking to acquire a licence will be required to complete an application. Requirements will include a signed “Good Neighbour Acknowledgement,” a floor plan, site plan, and proof of a septic pump out. Valid insurance will be needed, specific to the rental nature of the property.
The draft requires the STRA owner to have inspections for compliance with Ontario fire and building regulations, and the identification of a “responsible person” over age 18 who will be available to respond to issues within a period of no more than one hour from the time they were contacted.
The draft establishes a maximum of three STRA properties per owner within the township, though multiple STRAs can be located on a property if they comply with provincial regulations and municipal bylaws.
The draft proposes a “demerit point system” for operators, assigning demerit points to differing classifications of offences. It proposed that each licence may accumulate a total of 15 demerit points in a two-year period. Upon the accumulation of seven demerit points the licence may be suspended, but should 15 demerit points be accrued in 12 months, the licence would be revoked. There would be a mechanism for STRA owners to appeal, first through the Chief Administrative Officer, and then a short-term rental accommodations appeal committee.
Staff proposed the committee, which would operate as a tribunal, at “arms-length” of the municipality, be made up of community members, STRA operators and one elected member of council.
While the installation of noise monitoring devices had been discussed during the feedback period last year, staff decided against including them as a requirement.
A delegation first came to council in August 2022 with concerns from residents about STRAs in the municipality. Beginning last year, the municipality began investigating the STRA landscape in Georgian Bluffs, and community feedback was gathered. In December, staff were directed to develop a bylaw to regulate short-term accommodations in the municipality.
The municipality has also implemented a 24/7 hotline dedicated to fielding concerns relating to STRAs. Since it started up on May 17, two concerns relating to the same property had been received.
The report noted that approximately 154 properties had been identified in Georgian Bluffs as operating as a short-term rental during peak season, according to data collected from May to September 2023. Of those, between 50 and 75 operated year-round, with 52 properties were operating as STRAs at the time the report was authored.
CAO Niall Lobley said a lot of time had been spent focusing on the penalties and punitive measures of the program, but noted that last year they had seven complaints related to STRAs, all of which would have been addressed without the demerit point system needing to be triggered.
“The reality is we may never get to demerit points if we have a year like last year,” Lobley said. “We may never get close to having the tribunal needing to be set up. That is not to say we should not have those processes sketched out in the first place.”
Some on council expressed concerns about how the hotline works, in that a voice recording of a complaint about an STRA is forwarded to the owner as well as the township. Staff plan to see if a transcription of the call can be forwarded instead, to ensure the caller’s voice isn’t recognizable. Lobley noted that complaints cannot be made anonymously, as they rely on the courts to justify and investigate complaints.
“Certainly if their voice can be recognized, I think that would also be a deterrent,” Coun. Cathy Moore Coburn said. “We are talking about small communities where a short-stay accommodation is going to well know the voice of their neighbours and that is of concern for me.”
Moore Coburn also questioned why the appeals committee would have STRA operators on it.
“I would rather have a board of completely unrelated attitudes regarding STAs, so that appeals process is untainted and as objective as possible,” Moore Coburn said.
Drury said she included STRA operators and the general public on the committee to remove any biases.
“If we have operators, we have an elected official and we have community-based citizens, then we have all perspectives at the same table,” Drury said.