Members of the public took a long time to talk about short-term rentals at a special meeting of Innisfil town council Wednesday night.
The meeting was held to receive comments from the public on the town’s proposed short-term accommodation (STA) bylaw, which looks to put restrictions on short-term rentals and potentially introduce a Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT).
Councillors heard from 17 residents during the meeting. More than 40 had initially signed up to speak to the issue.
Under the bylaw, a property owner can only rent out a primary residence STA for a maximum of 180 nights each year. This, staff stated, would address concerns about STAs occurring in residences where the property owner does not reside, as well as ensure long-term rental housing stock is protected from being converted to STA.
If that property is on the waterfront - accounting for historical cottage rentals in the municipality - or is an accessory dwelling unit, the limit would be 90 days.
The bylaw caps occupancy at two people per sleeping room or 10 total overnight guests, with no more than 16 people allowed at the STA at any time. Owners would have to pay an annual licencing fee - $300 for a primary residence or $1,000 for cottage properties – and have a bi-annual fire inspection. One-time and recurring fines of $1,000 for a variety of offences, as well a demerit point system that could ultimately see a licence revoked would also be enacted.
Staff has been working toward such a bylaw for more than two years, dating back to its first report on a MAT in Sept. 2019. The goal of any bylaw regarding STAs would be to find balance, explained Paul Pentikainen, senior policy planner for the town. It would need to keep the option of short-term rentals open – acknowledging the area’s long history of cottage rentals – while limiting the nuisances and annoyances cited by many residents, particularly along the Lake Simcoe shoreline.
Shel Geller was one of those residents. He told councillors of several problems he faced once his neighbour’s property was listed as an Airbnb, including loud noise and unattended open-pit fires. The bylaw, as proposed, wouldn’t have helped him with his issues at all.
“It is a reactive instead of a preventative tool,” he said. “Punishing the owner for the behaviour of its tenants will have no effect on the behaviour of the subsequent tenants.”
Geller argued the best way to improve the bylaw would be to prohibit STAs in the town. But that would unfairly punish property owners who follow the rules, suggested Denise Pearson, who has been renting out a portion of her home on Airbnb for three years without any issue or concern from her neighbours.
“I don’t want to be penalized for someone who is breaking rules,” she said. “I don’t think it’s fair to the rest of us who are responsible hosts and who are doing what we need to do to promote the area.”
Those property owners are not the ones Simon Zucker said he had been dealing with. Zucker has been cottaging in Innisfil since the 1950s but is losing his love for the area due to the short-term renters that have taken over the neighbouring property. At $600 a night, the weekenders are looking to get their money’s worth.
“Because they’re paying a great deal, they feel they can do what they want and they’ve told me so,” he said. “I want to know how your town is going to protect my rights to enjoy my property…. So far, I haven’t heard how that’s going to happen.”
The problems shared by Geller and Zucker are the types of complaints Coun. Bill Van Berkel has heard with regularity over the past two years. Van Berkel, like Geller and Zucker, feels the bylaw proposed wouldn’t be sufficient. He took aim at the “absentee landlords” and young partiers who were causing most of the problems.
“There’s no respect,” he said, acknowledging that while cottage rentals have been a part of Innisfil’s fabric for generations, it’s been families, not 20-somethings that have replaced the traditional clientele. “Friday Harbour is a great place for short-term rentals; that’s what it’s there for. The rest of the shoreline isn’t.”
Friday Harbour was well-represented by the speakers in the public forum, many of whom voiced their overall support for the town’s STA bylaw. However, almost unanimously, they called for the resort to be exempt from any MAT.
“Adding a four per cent MAT will be detrimental to our unique community,” said Pauline Niles. “Members are concerned that the MAT will result in no-to-little benefits to Friday Harbour homeowners. Moreover, it may dissuade future investment into the community.”
The recommended bylaw calls for a four per cent MAT to be added to all STAs, including Friday Harbour, as well as any future hotels in the municipality. MATs are levied by municipalities to provide funding for their tourism promotional activities and industry, as well as support the programs and services tourists will utilize while in an area.
But if the cost to come to Friday Harbour increases due to further taxation, tourists might not be utilizing those amenities anyway, many argued, including Gabrielle Falipo.
“We should not further tax these customers. We should be looking for ways to attract them,” she said. “We want them to use our resort and the surrounding area…. We need to find ways to make the resort desirable all year long. This proposed tax does the opposite.”
The bylaw will come to council for approval by March, and regulations could be enacted sometime in the spring, prior to the start of the cottage season. Deputy Mayor Dan Davidson joined Van Berkel in hoping the final bylaw had “more teeth” than the draft that was presented, while Coun. Donna Orsatti encouraged staff to look out for the town’s permanent residents.
“There’s no one here that wants to buy a property, invest in it and wants to be able to go out in their backyard, have a cup of coffee, enjoy it, and have someone partying,” she said.
