Proposed short-term rentals bylaw just doesn’t cut it, council hears

ELORA – Most people who delegated at a March 23 public meeting were in favour of changing zoning bylaws to allow for and regulate short-term rentals in Centre Wellington.

But the proposed draft zoning bylaw amendment under discussion added more uncertainty, not less, and at least one delegate said she was “fundamentally sideswiped” when she tucked into the details.

Anthea Fisher lives in downtown Elora, a C1 commercial zone.

Currently the township has no bylaw regulating short-term rental accommodations (STRA), and many of the STRAs that do exist are in units above commercial businesses in downtown Elora.

The proposed zoning bylaw would allow bed and breakfasts and STRAs in parts of the township zoned residential, while existing STRAs in commercial or highway commercial zones would be deemed hotels.

“It’s news to me the intention is to eliminate STRA in the C1 district in dwellings above commercial space,” Fisher said. “To suddenly be categorized as a hotel – I’m taken aback.”

According to the proposed zoning bylaw, bed and breakfasts would be defined as a residential dwelling unit where the owner resides in the building or on the property and where units are rented for less than 28 consecutive days.

STRAs could be a whole dwelling or part of a dwelling rented for less than 28 days. 

STRAs and bed and breakfasts would be permitted where residential use is permitted. There would be parking restrictions – STRAs would require one off-street parking space for every two bedrooms; bed and breakfasts would require one parking space per rented room plus parking for the main dwelling.

Hotels are defined as an entire building or parts of buildings or a group of buildings that provide overnight accommodation for the travelling or vacationing public, and may include ancillary dining, dancing, convention or other public rooms, parking and recreational facilities.

They would be allowed in commercial and highway commercial zones.

Fisher was also not happy with the new definitions as proposed.

“A small boutique hotel could fit the definition of a dwelling or apartment building,” she said. 

“If the goal (of the zoning amendment) is for more long-term rentals, they would be lost to hotels.

“And the idea that every short-term rental would now be a hotel…” she trailed off. “Hotels won’t have the same regulation and oversight… There are so many loopholes in this.”

Local resident Darcy Saunders also delegated on the topic.

“I don’t understand how you can enforce the zoning definition,” he said. “Will it be applied and enforced consistently?”

He lives in Elora near a bed and breakfast that has caused him plenty of grief over the years, with undue noise and insufficient parking. And the owner does not live on the site, he said, noting this does not meet the current bylaw.

“And yet the use was still permitted,” he said, adding bylaws are often left to the discretion of the bylaw officer to enforce.

He said the new zoning bylaw “should be applied consistently, transparently and equitably. Without that it will not achieve its intended purpose.”

Resident Erika Montero objected to the loosening of the definition of hotel and the fact that STRAs in the downtown would now be considered hotels, “with no fees, no demerit points and no limits on occupants.

“Elora is a community where people live and downtown is where the most rental housing exists. This will facilitate displacement” and will create a two-tiered system, she said.

The proposed cap of 265 on STRAs and bed and breakfasts won’t apply to hotels, Montero said and will remove dwellings from the housing supply, which is not the intent of the bylaw.

She added there should be licensing for all bed and breakfasts, STRAs and hotels, otherwise “the smallest (operations) will carry the full burden and hotels will carry none.”

Glen Rumble lives in Fergus and is currently building an additional residential unit on his property with the intention of renting it as an STRA.

The proposed bylaw “is taking rights away. Right now I can have a STRA without oversight,” he said, but under the bylaw, “I’ll be subject to regulations that hotels won’t.”

Township manager of planning services Marianna Iglesias said defining rental accommodations above commercial spaces as hotels makes sense because they are in a commercial zone and are commercial properties.

“If they are long-term rentals, then this doesn’t apply,” she said.

She said she heard some valid points during the discussion and will take that away for further discussion in-house with various department heads and the township’s lawyer.

“The goal was to get a handle on the bad apples and not just put on an administrative layer,” councillor Jennifer Adams noted.

Many councillors were sympathetic to STRA owners who are looking to supplement their incomes and didn’t want to hamper that. 

But they also noted that they didn’t want to take away from the housing stock with STRAs, which are lucrative, especially during tourist season.

Mayor Shawn Watters appreciated that everyone had been civil, and he hoped to keep that good will among staff, residents and council.

“We need to look at these,” he said. 

“There were horror stories out there.”

The proposed zoning bylaw amendment, and the accompanying proposed licensing bylaw, will return to council at a future date.