People anxiously awaiting the finalization of Wainfleet’s new licensing system for short-term rental homes will have to wait a little longer, with township politicians deciding they want to have a special meeting with the township solicitor before they adopt the bylaw.
Township politicians and staff have been working on a system to regulate the growing number of short-term rentals (STRs) for a few years now, after hearing from residents complaining of wild parties at houses rented by out-of-towners from often absentee landlords.
In an attempt to toughen up the draft bylaw, council members in April directed staff to beef up rules such as having a minimum seven-day stay, banning non-renting guests, a three-bedroom maximum per STR, a six-person occupancy maximum, requiring owners to have owned the property for at least four years before licensing, and tougher penalties.
After hearing from one STR operator at a subsequent meeting in early June that some of the rules might force her to sell since she wouldn’t qualify to be licensed, politician opted to send the draft bylaw back to staff for tweaks.
The bylaw was brought back to council again at the June 27 meeting with proposed changes including requiring a local contact person for an STR to be available to come to the STR within 45 minutes if required, removing the reference to a minimum seven-day stay, changes to wording covering how long an STR operator must have owned it, adding STR stays be at least three days long with no more than one stay period within seven days, removing the prohibition on guests, and changes to the proposed penalties.
But Coun. John MacLellan said after those proposed changes were made public several days before the latest council meeting, his email inbox blew up, suggesting some of the provisions in the bylaw remain contentious.
At his suggestion, council unanimously agreed to have a special meeting with the township solicitor to discuss the legalities of the bylaw in the hope of reducing the chance of legal challenges to it.