Georgian Bluffs council this week endorsed recommendations intended to identify to what extent short-term rentals cause problems in the township, then determine what to do about it.
Councillors also agreed to hire seasonal bylaw enforcement staff who will visit areas based, it’s hoped, on reports on the township’s website from neighbours of troublesome visitors, Georgian Bluffs Mayor Sue Carleton said in an interview.
A draft nuisance bylaw presented to council Wednesday — the township’s first — will return to council on March 22 for approval. The approved recommendations include increased resources for communications “to encourage good neighbour behaviours.”
Existing bylaws cover noise, clean yards, property standards and parking and focus on the offender. But a nuisance bylaw allows the township to hold property owners accountable for issues created on their properties.
Such a bylaw addresses such nuisances as screaming, shouting or using profane language, littering, obstructing traffic, unreasonable noise including loud music and unlawful open burning.
Councillors sitting as the committee of the whole on Wednesday also approved a software and service package to identify all short-term rentals on tourist accommodation websites, such as Airbnb. The total budget impact is estimated at $90,000. Staff will report back at year’s end on the results.
Carleton said that the number of short-term rentals isn’t known yet and neither is the size of the problem with them. Such short-term accommodations include houses or part of homes rented to someone for less than 30 days.
The township isn’t putting any short-term rental rules in place yet. The report to council noted short-term rentals provide needed visitor accommodations, which also support local businesses.
Carleton said council will be looking at other considerations, including whether to introduce an accommodation tax and how expensive it would be to implement, when staff time for monitoring and enforcement is considered.
Carleton said the township will have enforcement in place under the nuisance bylaw this summer “but we won’t have rules in place governing everybody until at least the end of this year.”