The Blue Mountains council has voted to tighten up the town’s policies governing short-term accommodations.
At its committee of the whole meeting on Aug. 15, council voted in favour of an Official Plan amendment to tightens up rules around short-term rentals.
“We’re on our way to filling in some gaps in the official plan,” said Coun. Paula Hope.
The changes approved by council essentially eliminate any short-term accommodations in the town outside the “exception area,” which has specific boundaries defined in town planning policies. The amendment also slightly expanded the “exception area” to include all areas of the town with zones that permit short-term accommodation. Those areas are mostly limited to properties zoned as resort residential in subdivisions in and around Blue Mountain and Blue Mountain Village.
A short-term rental is defined as a property rented for a period of less than 30 days. The town requires owners to have licences for any short-term rental they are operating, which includes a process for inspections and a responsible person who can respond to the site quickly in case of complaints or emergencies.
“If the old exception area was kept, those zones would not comply with the Official Plan,” planner Carter Triana explained.
According to Triana's report, the purpose of the changes are to have the Official Plan formally recognize the licensing requirements for short-term rentals and prohibit any new short-term accommodations from being established outside of the exception areas identified through zoning.
The full staff report on the amendment can be found here.
The new rules passed with relatively little comment from council or the public. A recent public meeting on the proposed amendments drew little interest.
Council approved the motion in a 4-0 vote (Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon was absent and by that point in the meeting Mayor Andrea Matrosovs and Coun. Gail Ardiel had departed for other appointments).
The committee of the whole decision will now go to the regular council meeting on Aug. 28 for approval. Once council makes its final decision and enacts a bylaw, the amendment will be sent to Grey County for final approval.
