City of Powell River is considering complex objectives to regulate short-term rentals, like those on Airbnb and similar online platforms.
There are currently 57 short-term rental operators in Powell River.
At a committee of the whole meeting in July, council told staff to prepare draft bylaws to, among other things, ensure that viable long-term rental housing is not converted into short-term rental stock.
“On the one hand you don’t want long-term rentals to become short-term rentals but we also want to support homeowners in being able to offer short-term rentals to support the cost of homeownership,” said senior planner Daniella Fergusson.
The bylaws are also meant to address the state of tourist accommodation in Powell River, especially during busy summer seasons and for special events, while avoiding taking business away from existing tourist accommodation operators.
Also covered are safety, noise, and parking that could become issues in residential neighbourhoods, which is where short-term rentals are limited to in the new regulations.
The provision that only the homeowner's principal residence can be used for short-term rentals prompted councillor Rob Southcott to ask the planning department for options on a tiered structure.
“I would like staff to consider the possibility of a different tiering structure because we have residents that live in this community wanting to do a short-term rental on another home that they own,” said Southcott.
Powell River residents Deborah and Ken Jenkins are homeowners who want to do just that with a second residence that they own on the adjacent lot next to their primary residence.
“I don't have an issue with regulation,” said Deborah. “I think it needs to be done on a case-by-case basis.”
Southcott said the Jenkinses are in a unique situation under the draft bylaws.
“I’d like to support that and we have people outside the community that are only buying to do Airbnb,” he said. “By prohibiting it altogether, essentially it could be sitting empty and nobody is living in it. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to do a long-term rental. They could just have a vacant building.”
Councillor Maggie Hathaway also has doubts about having the rule apply to out of town and out of province investors who won’t qualify.
“I know a number of people that have bought investment houses absolutely for the purpose of short-term rental,” said Hathaway. “It’s not going to make them happy.”
Proposed changes for the zoning bylaw include:
- Allowing short-term rental in single-family zones;
- Allowing short-term rental if the property is someone’s principal residence;
- Allowing full-dwelling rental and only one short-term rental per lot;
- Clarifying definitions and permitted uses to avoid confusion regarding short-term rentals, bed and breakfast, and boarding/lodging;
- Limiting the number of people and requiring a parking space for each room rented.
Proposed changes to the business license bylaw include:
- Establishing a maximum of 50 short-term rental licences;
- Allowing only one short-term rental licence per short-term rental operator;
- No limit to short-term rentals by season or geography;
- Requiring licence applications to be submitted annually;
- Requiring a local contact;
- Requiring a bylaw infraction deposit of $500 for renting out an entire home;
- Requiring health and safety inspections.
Public information meetings will be held to explain the bylaws after council’s approval.
