With dozens of potentially illegal short-term rentals (STRs) operating in Oro-Medonte, the township continues to look for ways to fight back against the rule breakers.
Prior to giving a summary of his report on the options available to Oro-Medonte council to address illegal STRs, George Vadeboncoeur, the township’s manager of planning special projects, addressed the concerns of residents who reviewed the report online prior to its presentation to council Wednesday night.
“I want to make it clear, before I get into the body of the report, that the recommendation pertaining to licensing only pertains to legal short-term rental accommodations. In Oro-Medonte, short-term rental accommodations are only permitted in two zones — the Village One zone and the Residential Two, exception 123 zone,” he said.
“Those are the only two areas where legal short-term rentals are permitted. Everywhere else in the municipality, short-term rental accommodations are excluded.”
According to township officials, the Village One zone is made up of the condos in the parking lot at Horseshoe Resort. The Residential Two, exception 123 zone is what is commonly referred to as the Carriage Hills Resort and Carriage Country Club.
Vadeboncoeur said, as of October of last year, there were 394 STRs in the township; 166 of them were in the approved zones.
“There are 200 potentially that are operating illegally in the municipality,” he said.
Vadeboncoeur laid out the enforcement tools the township has tried to use over the past few years to control illegal STRs.
“In the past, we’ve tried to use the zoning bylaw as a mechanism to enforce illegal STRs,” he said. “There are limitations using the zoning bylaw. The largest limitation is evidentiary requirement to prove without a doubt that an STR is taking place.”
Another enforcement tool the municipality could use, he said, is Section 440 of the Ontario Municipal Act, 2001, which provides a municipality with the option of seeking an injunction by the Superior Court to restrain an activity that is not permitted.
He said Section 440 is a powerful tool, but it’s also expensive, with a typical case costing between $10,000 and $30,000.
The next tool Vadeboncoeur discussed was a municipal licensing bylaw, which he noted is only applicable where legal STRs occur.
He said this approach allows the municipality to structure the bylaw in a way that best serves its purpose.
“You put in a number of prohibitions with respect to advertising STRs that are not licensed. So, if you’re not licensed, you cannot advertise. If you’re not licensed, you cannot rent,” he said.
“There are a number of specific provisions in the licensing bylaw, so what happens is that if an illegal STR is identified, and it’s typically identified by an advertisement, they are, by the provisions in the licensing bylaw ... guilty of an offence.”
And if they’re rented, they’re guilty of another offence, he said.
And if they don’t take their advertising down, they’re guilty of another offence.
And so on.
“These penalties can add up and they can be quite significant,” Vadeboncoeur added.
That’s an important consideration because Oro-Medonte recently implemented an administrative monetary penalties (AMP) program, a system that applies penalties outside the court system.
“Where somebody has violated a bylaw, they are issued a notice that they are required to make a payment to the municipality of whatever that violation amount is,” Vadeboncoeur said.
“They have the right to appeal, but if the decision is to uphold the penalty, then that penalty is levied and the individual has to pay it. One of the nice things about AMP is, under the Municipal Act, the penalties, if not paid, get transferred onto the taxes of the property owner.”
Vadeboncoeur said that since the municipality now has the AMP program, the best solution would be to proceed with a licensing bylaw as well as enforcement under Section 440.
He modified his recommendation to council to include a timeline for implementation based on input he heard from residents who thought he was moving too fast.
Council approved the following recommendation:
- That council implement a licensing program for legal short-term rental accommodation and bed-and-breakfast uses, as well as continue to seek compliance through orders under the Municipal Act (Section 440), where necessary, to prohibit illegal short-term rental accommodations
- That council direct staff to prepare a draft licensing bylaw, as recommended in the report
- That council direct staff to host a public information/consultation session on the draft licensing bylaw
The draft licensing bylaw would include:
a) information on how it relates to the licensing of legal STRs only permitted in two zones in the township and bed-and-breakfast establishments
b) information on the requirements to obtain a licence
c) steps the township would take to enforce the licensing bylaw, if enacted by council
d) information on the AMP system and how it works
Council would also direct staff to continue to explore third-party enforcement services provided by Granicus Host Compliance Services and report back to council on the comments received at the public information/consultation session and recommended next steps.
“There will be public engagement for feedback on the bylaw and how we move forward,” said Mayor Randy Greenlaw. “After that has been received, they will go back and further tweak it before it comes back to council for consideration.”
Vadeboncoeur said he will be working with the township’s communications team to create a strategy to inform residents of when and where the information/consultation sessions will be held.
