Prince Edward County Council wants staff to gather more information before approving any changes to the short term accommodations by-law but did accept some recommendations.
At a special Committee of the Whole meeting on Thursday, council received a report on the STA licensing program review which assessed the efficiency of the process for short term accommodation licensing.
The STA by-law came into effect in June 2019 but licensing applications for whole-home short term accommodations were paused at the end of last September so staff could conduct its review.
At Thursday’s meeting, staff recommended some administrative and operational changes to make the program work better and also suggested some small changes to the STA by-law and some zoning by-law changes.
Council did pass three recommendations.
The first involves looking into hiring a software company to aid in compliance and enforcement as the City of Kingston recently did.
These companies can search dozens of online STA rental platforms and cross-check with known licensed properties to understand who is operating illegally.
That information can then be turned over to municipal by-law enforcement officers.
More than 1000 STA licensing applications had been received before the application process was paused at the end of September to begin the review but it’s believed there could be more than double that number of rentals during peak season.
Staff will prepare a report for council, including cost, feedback from municipalities already using such software and a recommended timeline for procurement.
Also passed was a recommendation allowing staff to compile a report outlining a study of the effect that STAs and STA licensing are having on communities.
During the meeting, many councillors noted they are still concerned about the effect of short term acccommodations on housing availability in the County.
Councillor Joyce Maynard was among those who said the shortage of housing, especially affordable housing in the County, is directly related to STAs.
Another recommendation was passed calling on staff to pursue conversations with STA booking platforms about providing a mandatory field for licence numbers to appear on listings for the County.
The review made a few other recommendations and suggested some by-law changes that will come before council at future meetings.
Staff revised some of the amendments to the proposed replacement STA by-law and bring it back to a future Committee of the Whole.
They will also present a report and an amended zoning by-law at a future planning meeting.
