麻豆精选 council is a step closer to aligning its short-term rental (STR) regulations with the provincial government.
At Monday鈥檚 (Jan. 20) regular meeting, council voted to direct staff to proceed with the plan and bring bylaws forward to a future meeting for approval. This decision coincided with the province鈥檚 announcement of its mandatory STR registry.
鈥淎ligning the city's bylaws with provincial rules allows us to use the enforcement tools and resources that are coming available and we're just announced today through the Ministry of Housing's short term rental branch,鈥� explained Chief Planner and Development Planning Manager Nola Kilmartin.
She noted that new federal funding grants for enforcement are another opportunity the city can pursue. In January 2024, council approved more restrictive STR regulations than mandated by the province. There were approximately 1,100 STRs operating without a business licence in 麻豆精选 at that time. Mayor Tom Dyas noted many of those rentals were taxing bylaw staff.
鈥淚t was running them ragged to try to keep up because there were so many of them that did not have licenses operating in neighbourhoods that were basically making life havoc for our residents on a weekend-to-weekend, the weekend basis,鈥� he added.
In May 2024, the province introduced Bill 35 which set STR rules for larger cities. They stipulate that STRs must be in a primary residence (where the owner lives) or one extra suite on the same property. At that time there were 498 licenced secondary use STRs that were allowed to continue operating with a 鈥榣egally non-conforming鈥� status, provided they met provincial principal residence requirements.
The province allows municipalities to apply for relaxation of the primary residence rules if their vacancy rate is above three per cent for two years. This could happen in 麻豆精选 in 2026.
鈥溌槎咕� has achieved some significant housing targets in 2024 with our rental vacancy rate at a 20 year high of 3.8 percent and trending upward,鈥� Kilmartin added.
Council voted in favour of moving forward with draft bylaws to align its STR regulations with the province. Councillor Rick Webber was opposed and Coun. Maxine DeHart was not present at Monday鈥檚 meeting.
