Highlands East prefers “the carrot to the stick” when it comes to its shor=tterm rental bylaw, but junior planner Kim Roberts put operators on notice at a meeting April 8 that they will crack down on people who operate without licences.
She told council they had received 41 applications as of their meeting date last Tuesday. Some 22 have been approved, 10 rejected, and nine are pending. Roberts said the knock backs are due to either insufficient septic capacity, or building code infractions that are being followed up with by their building department.
In updating council on the bylaw, the junior planner said applications, and inquiries, have continued throughout February and March, and staff are working on finalizing the conditions of approval with a number of earlier applicants. She said the short-term rental licensing clerk has been providing outreach through social media and mass e-mail.
They have also noticed an increase in shoreline purchase applications, while encroachment agreements had also been flowing into the planning department as a result of the new bylaw.
Roberts noted first warning letters will be issued in two batches to property owners identified as being short-term rental operators, but who have not yet applied for licences; the first in the second week of April and the second in the first week of May. Actual enforcement of the new bylaw will begin June 1.
Coun. Angela Lewis asked what the township would say to short-term rental owners operating without a licence.
“We’re really encouraging folks to get their applications in,” Roberts said. “We are starting to more vigorously review where we’re seeing listings (and) revenue coming into short-term rentals. And the host compliance program actually scrapes a lot websites to post some of that information for us.
“So, we’re starting to see where folks are still actively renting, and we haven’t received something from them. Those folks are going to be the first ones to receive their warning letters. It’s always better to voluntarily comply and get your stuff in.”
Roberts added if anyone had concerns, they should contact planning staff. She said they’re trying to take an educational approach, “however, when June 1 comes along, unfortunately, if we have folks who are persistently not getting the information in to us, we will be having to issue orders and those orders may, and probably will, have administrative penalties attached to those.”
For example, she said every time someone is caught renting out without a licence, they can incur a $250 fine. She said the licence is $500 “so it’s much more affordable to start working through the process with us now.
“We’re doing our best to help people sort out situations where maybe they have concerns about shore road allowances or septic or things like that …it’s better to get started now versus us having to potentially shut you down which we’d really rather not do. We’d rather work with the public and operators. We’d rather use the carrot than the stick at this point so we really encourage folks to contact us if they have questions or concerns.”
The planner that the legal challenge to Tiny Township’s short-term rental licencing bylaw was heard in Superior Court and a decision was issued on March 24, upholding the legality of the bylaw in its totality.
