After a year of discussion, debate and discord, but without a definitive solution, Niagara-on-the-Lake’s moratorium on the number of short-term rental units in the town has been lifted.
Jay Plato, fire chief and director of municipal enforcement, told town councillors the freeze on the number of units imposed in December 2024 would be lifted once a report on the matter was approved during their Oct. 28 meeting.
Following the approval, town officials announced on Oct. 30 that applications for new short-term rentals can be submitted online through Niagara-on-the-Lake’s website. The cost for a new application is $800, while the price to renew an application scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2025, is $600.
There are about 400 short-term rentals operating, encompassing about 1,000 rooms, with 210 cottages, 21 villas, 18 vacation apartments, 136 bed and breakfasts and 14 country inns, said staff in a report.
The report, introduced earlier this year, said about 58 per cent of the short-term rentals are in Old Town, and 53 per cent of the rentals are cottages.
In a sometimes confusing discussion, councillors during their Oct. 21 committee of the whole meeting insisted on conducting a public engagement session focusing on the short-term rental issue. Yet a similar motion had been approved in May. Plato said no engagement sessions were held because it was unclear from council what information it was seeking.
Coun. Maria Mavridis, who chaired the Oct. 21 committee of the whole meeting, said there would be limited information to learn about short-term rentals from the public.
“You are not going to get data by engaging with residents,” she said. “There is no clear direction what we want from the engagement.”
Chief administrative officer Nick Ruller said councillors in September approved another motion to engage with the public about the issue, focused on density, and to be completed by mid-2026.
Plato said staff will examine whether there should be a limit on the number of short-term rentals.
During the July council meeting, various short-term rental operators urged the town to make a number of changes to the bylaw, including establishing spacing requirements of 150 metres between short-term rental accommodations, prohibiting short-term rentals that have pools, and establishing a density requirement.
At that meeting, councillors requested staff to craft amendments to focus on density limits and restricting licences for cottages and villas.
Various operators argued during council’s year-long discussion on the issue that any ban on short-term rental licenses would hurt tourism.
Niagara-on-the-Lake’s short-term rental bylaw requires all operators to register their properties.