Short-Term Accommodations continue to be a popular topic in Prince Edward County.
At Tuesday’s council meeting two men made separate deputations to council both on the subject of STAs.
Gary Morden, who is from the county and now lives in Belleville, said that his sister-in-law’s STA licence application for her single, fully accessible home has been on hold for nearly a year.
He said his sister-in-law is trying to turn the house, which is fully accessible as she lived there for many years with her son who suffers from Cerebral Palsy and is wheelchair-bound, into a short-term rental so she can use it to fund her retirement and a move into a smaller place in Belleville.
Morden asked that, since whole home applications are on hold, if council would consider creating another category for accessible houses as it is a sought after market for short-term accommodations that can be difficult to find for many.
Multiple councillors commended Morden for bringing the issue to council’s attention and Councillor Ernie Margetson proposed a friendly amendment to the staff recommendation of receiving the deputation as information to address the issue.
“That staff, in collaboration with the accessibility advisory committee, be directed to investigate the goal of addressing accessibility criteria and exploring accessibility features associated with the short-term accommodation licensing program in the future actions plan 2022-2023 section of the multi-year accessibility plan.”
Council voted on and approved the motion.
Next another concerned citizen, Angus Ross, came to council with a well-researched list of suggestions on how to limit the program’s impact on the local housing market.
Ross did research on a variety of other municipalities and their programs including Wasaga Beach, Collingwood, Clearview, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Stratford to offer comparisons and suggestions.
Ross, after reviewing the list of rules from the other municipalities in a presentation provided a list of suggestions to council:
- End grandfathering of licences – licence expires on sale of home
- Principal residence only but make exceptions for cottages and three–season homes
- Create punitive penalties for operating an unlicensed STA
- Put a finite limit on the number of STA licences
- Bring in a demerit point system similar to St. Catharines
- Tax whole–home STAs as commercial
- Amend enforcement from complaints-driven to knowledge of
The item was not a decision item and council voted to receive it as information.
