Like numerous municipalities throughout Simcoe County, the City of Orillia is going to consider options for regulating short-term rentals.
At Monday’s council meeting, Coun. Whitney Smith brought forward an inquiry motion asking city staff to prepare a report outlining regulations in other municipalities and the potential costs of implementing such measures in Orillia.
Council supported Smith’s request, with her Ward 1 counterpart, Coun. David Campbell, and Mayor Don McIsaac saying they have heard from increasing numbers of residents about problematic short-term rentals (STRs).
Smith said STRs have been a festering problem in Ward 1 since the onset of the pandemic — it's an issue she heard a lot about on the campaign trail in October.
“As I was out door knocking, we were going door-to-door and hearing (about) houses that had crazy parties and there would be 10-15 cars parked outside of a house that was maybe a three- or four-bedroom house,” Smith told OrilliaMatters. “It's drinking in excess. It's loud music in excess … we really heard collectively across the ward that this was a major issue.”
Between drinking, loud noise, fireworks, and large numbers of guests, Smith hopes to see the city regulate the number of STRs locally and implement controls to reduce problematic behaviour.
“These people, especially the ones who are on the water, they do pay a lot of taxes and we need to honour that they maybe have saved up to retire in this particular neighbourhood because they love it,” Smith said.
Smith said she has discussed the issue with friend and Ramara Mayor Basil Clarke, and she hopes to see Orillia implement measures similar to the neighbouring township.
“Everybody has to apply for a licence (in Ramara). Only a certain amount of licences are issued,” Smith said. “There can't be another Airbnb within 300 metres of one.”
She said those measures seem to be working in Ramara.
“You have people on Couchiching, you've got the Green River, Black River, you've got a few different places, so that really protects those neighbourhoods, from just going crazy with everybody buying to just have a short-term rental," explained Smith.
Smith also mentioned that the township defines an STR as a rental for less than 28 days, which still allows people to potentially rent their homes out to a regular tenant for the summer. She also noted the township is considering implementing a minimum stay period to discourage weekend partying.
“You're potentially bringing in a family, somebody who has more money, you're bringing in a different crowd (that way),” she said.
“We can put in preventative measures that keep the neighbourhoods intact, keep them peaceful, keep them with respectful people,” she said. “You can't completely stop (STRs), but you can do your best to try and weed out people before it becomes an even worse problem.”
Smith said she would like to see three- to five-night minimum rentals, rules around fireworks and music, strict bylaw enforcement, among other possible regulations for local STRs.
She also suggested a licensing program could bring revenue into the city and pay for the associated bylaw enforcement without burdening the taxpayer.
The goal isn’t to forbid STRs in Orillia, said Smith, who argued the city can benefit greatly from the "right type" of visitors.
“We ultimately do want people to come to Orillia … shop in our shops, go to our stores, visit our waterfront, all the different great things about Orillia,” she said. “We don't want to discourage new visitors, but again, we want to honour the residents here in town.”
The report requested by Smith at Monday’s council meeting will be brought to a future meeting of council for consideration.
