MAPLETON – Airbnbs here won’t be municipally regulated anytime soon.
That’s despite a recommendation from a Mapleton planner to license, regulate and inspect short-term rental accommodations (STRA).
Instead, council voted to define STRA in the township’s existing comprehensive bylaw to make clear that Airbnbs and other similar accommodations are included in the rules around bed and breakfasts.
These rules permit STRAs in specific zoning areas, but only within an owner’s principal residence, not in a separate unit or investment property.
Anyone hoping to offer STRAs outside of their principal residence needs to apply for a bylaw amendment or minor variance.
The Grand River Conservation Authority does not permit any STRAs on its lands around Conestogo Lake.
Planning and development manager Michelle Brown brought a report to council on April 8 with recommendations on managing STRAs, and council and staff spent most of the meeting discussing the issue.
“The proposed licensing system has the potential to strike a balance between the benefits of STRAs while mitigating potential negative effects related to their operation,” the report states.
It “intends to create equal standards for all STRAs to use, to educate and guide owners and renters, and to create a registry that will help to promote tourism.”
Brown noted that as Mapleton does not have hotels or other forms of accommodations, STRAs are “required.
“I’m not sure where the information got out that we were opposed to them or trying to overregulate them,” she said, noting her job is to present all the possible options.
She added regulation would help the township track how many STRAs are in the municipality, noting planners “have no handle on how many there are,” outside of what they see on platforms such as Airbnb, Verbo and Facebook Marketplace.
Brown said that while no-one came out to the public meeting about managing STRAs, 121 people responded to a township survey on the topic.
Almost 70 per cent of respondents agreed that benefits of STRAs include providing alternative accommodation options for visitors, supporting local tourism and increasing visitor spending.
About 35% of respondents said disadvantages of STRAs include parking, noise, litter or safety problems, and 27% said the loss of housing for long-term rentals is a disadvantage.
There was little agreement from respondents about how the municipality should “deal with” STRAs, with:
- 30% saying STRAs should be allowed when no (or few) complaints are received;
- almost 20% supporting licensing and regulation;
- 13% saying they should not be allowed; and
- 10% saying the approach should depend on whether the owners are present or close.
There was discussion during the meeting about permitting STRAs outside of owners’ principal residences, but Mayor Gregg Davidson expressed concern that “people would buy up a bunch of homes and then make them [STRAs].”
Councillor Marlene Ottens said she’d be okay with permitting STRAs outside of people’s principal residences.
“People are going to have the separate little building outside of their house – most of them will be doing it that way … I mean I’m not going to rent someone’s basement and live in there for a weekend,” she said.
Other councillors said they only want to permit STRAs inside principal residences.
When STRAs come to the attention of township planners, it is usually because of a building code or permit issue, Brown noted.
Ottens pointed out “problematic” STRAs are not disrupting neighbours, “so that’s more of a building code issue than a housing or a short-term rental issue to me.”
Ottens said she is “really not in favour of overregulating anything like this,” noting if issues came up around noise or other disturbances, bylaw officers would address that.
Councillor Amanda Reid asked if the question of managing STRAs could return to council for reconsideration if bylaw complaints became a recurring problem.
“At any time, council can always bring back any piece and have a re-discussion on it,” Davidson said.
But Brown noted most complaints occur on evenings and weekends – outside the township bylaw officer’s working hours.
Those complaints would be directed to the OPP and the township does not receive reports from OPP about bylaw complaints.
Brown advised council to, at the very least, have the STRAs inspected annually by bylaw and fire prevention officers, “to ensure that they are safe.”
She compared it to dog kennels, which are technically not allowed in Mapleton, but are municipally inspected annually. “I would like to believe that we would do the same for that which we would allow humans to be in,” she said.
Bed and breakfasts and apartment buildings are only inspected when first built or if found in violation of building code – not annually.
Brown noted the federal and provincial governments have been putting policies forward that aim to discourage STRAs in an attempt to make more of those units available for long-term housing to address the housing crisis.
“Almost no one has approached me to look for creating an accessory dwelling unit for a long-term rental income – it’s all been for short-term rental accommodations,” Brown said.
And the Canada Revenue Agency recently changed rules so that income tax reductions for STRAs are only allowed in municipalities that explicitly permit them.
Adding a definition of STRAs to Mapleton’s comprehensive bylaw means STRA owners will be able to claim associated expenses on their tax returns.
Councillor Michael Martin asked “why do we care about rental owners reporting their income and being able to claim eligible expenses? For me, that’s between them and the CRA.”
Brown said, “I don’t care either … CRA cares and they put forward that stipulation that unless we have a definition that allows [STRA] in our municipality they are not allowed to claim those expenses.”
All councillors agreed to add a definition of STRAs to the bylaw.
Martin said in other Ontario municipalities, STRA licensing programs have “been a pretty public headache, and it’s expensive, and there’s always a levy impact.
“I think the proposal (to license and regulate STRAs) is legit – I just think it’s probably creating a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist,” Martin said.
He asked if defining but not licensing or regulating STRAs could put the township at risk.
Davidson called the question unfair, and said, “It’s up in the air. It’s a great question but I’m not sure if anybody can answer that.”
CAO Manny Baron said while he doesn’t have the answer, he will try to find out and bring it back to council.
Brown speculated that “the more hands-off you are, perhaps the less risk there is because we do not regulate it in any way.”
Councillor Lori Woodham said, “I don’t think at this time we need to go further and complicate the system,” with licensing and regulation.
