If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, Springwater Township should have no issues with short-term rentals moving forward.
A year-and-a-half ago, Springwater council, through a motion introduced by Coun. Anita Moore, directed staff to draft a short-term rental bylaw for consideration. Six months later, council included a number of requirements it wanted to see as part of the bylaw.
Last week, council approved a report from Brittany Kellington, manager of municipal law enforcement, that included the draft of a short-term rental bylaw, a recommendation to implement the bylaw on Jan. 1, 2025, direction that staff move forward with the necessary Official Plan and zoning bylaw amendments, and a request for additional staff.
She said she expects the township to issue 45 licences per year.
In her report, Kellington noted the domino effect the decision would have on township departments and township finances.
“Staff are forecasting an impact on the following departments: bylaw enforcement, fire and emergency services, building services, planning services and communications related to education communication, administration, inspections and enforcement,” she wrote. “Due to additional pressures of administering a short-term rental bylaw, staff are recommending that a new, permanent, full-time position of licensing officer is needed in order to fulfil the requirements of the proposed bylaw.”
Having secured council’s approval, staff will now start work on initiating the program, which will involve the following:
- Creation of an application form and FAQ sheet for applicants.
- Creation of advertising/educational material for social media, pamphlets, and a web page for the program.
- Creation of workflows for handling of applications, inspections, infractions, renewals, etc.
- Researching existing short-term rentals in the township and providing notice of the program.
According to Kellington’s report, Springwater staff spent the past year conducting extensive research into various forms of bylaws that are in use across the province, as well as options to administer and enforce the program.
She also noted staff met with a legal team to review the draft bylaw being presented, to ensure compliance with relevant legislation, and to consider precedent court cases on the matter.
“Planning staff and legal counsel determined that neither the current Official Plan nor the current comprehensive zoning bylaw specifically permit short-term rentals as a permitted use. Planning staff will need to proceed right away with an update to the township’s Official Plan and to the comprehensive zoning bylaw to specifically permit short-term rentals,” Kellington wrote.
“These amendments would need to be in force and in effect before the short-term rental bylaw came into effect, which is proposed as Jan. 1, 2025.”
To amend the Official Plan and the zoning bylaw, the township must:
- Provide an information report to council, advising the amendment process has been initiated and a public meeting has been scheduled.
- Circulate a public meeting notice as required under the Planning Act.
- Hold a public meeting to gather information from the public, agencies and key stakeholders.
- Have staff review comments from the public meeting and circulation process and revise policies as needed.
- Have staff provide a recommendation report.
- Forward the Official Plan amendment to the County of Simcoe for consideration and final approval.
- Provide a 20-day appeal period after approval.
If the Official Plan amendment is approved by the County of Simcoe, the new zoning bylaw provisions will come into effect.
The key elements of the draft bylaw are:
- Clear definition of what constitutes a short-term rental (i.e., occupancy period of a minimum three-night stay and not more than 28 consecutive calendar days).
- Short-term rental owner(s) must submit an application and obtain an annual licence from the municipality prior to operating.
- Short-term rental owner(s) must provide information so staff have the ability to make direct contact within 30 minutes of a regulatory bylaw contravention or emergency.
- The maximum number of guests at a premises at any one time shall not exceed two per bedroom and shall not exceed 10 renters on the same premises.
- Outlines when the municipality may refuse to issue or renew a licence and enables suspension or revocation of licensing if infractions occur.
- Provides authority for municipal staff to conduct site visits for safety- and enforcement-related matters.
- Requires renters to sign a renter’s code of conduct and acknowledge their responsibility for compliance with all regulatory municipal bylaws.
- Requires licensees to sign a licensee code of conduct and acknowledgement, and acknowledge their responsibility and compliance with all regulatory municipal bylaws.
The bylaw also includes a demerit point system.
If a licence holder has a contravention of a municipal bylaw (i.e., noise) and staff have substantial evidence, they may issue a contravention notice to the licence holder as well as adding points to the licensed premises.
If a licensed premises accumulates 15 points within two years, staff may revoke the licence and/or deny renewal.
According to the proposed demerit point system, an infraction of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 2007/Fire Code would earn the licence holder 15 demerit points. Infractions of the Building Code Act, operating without a licence and non-availability of a responsible person would earn seven demerit points.
Noise bylaw infractions, long grass and waste/garbage collection violations will earn five demerit points. Failing to display a short-term rental licence would result in three demerit points.
According to Kellington’s report, a minimum of 50 to 75 hours would be required to initiate the program and the majority of staff time would be dedicated to researching existing short-term rentals, obtaining contact information, contacting each property owner and fielding calls/inquiries from those property owners regarding the program.
For every short-term rental licence application, including subsequent renewals, staff will follow this process:
- Receiving an application and payment: review of application for completeness and compliance with the short-term rental bylaw.
- Internal circulation of the application and supporting documents to each of the following departments: building services, planning services, and fire and emergency services for comment/concerns.
- Circulated departments would conduct a review of the application and all supporting documentation to ensure compliance with township bylaws and provincial and federal legislation.
- Setting up and conducting a property inspection. Inspections would be completed by the bylaw department, building services and fire and emergency services to ensure compliance with the Ontario Building Code, the Ontario Fire Code and applicable township bylaws.
- In the event of a contravention, issuing a notice to remediate the deficiencies and conducting a follow-up inspection as required.
- Once all inspections and departmental approvals are in place, issuance of the short-term rental licence.
Staff recommended a $1,250 application fee for both new and renewal applications.
Based on 45 short-term rentals, the anticipated revenue for the township from licensing fees is $56,250.
Kellington’s report recommended a new position — licensing/permitting officer/municipal law enforcement officer — be added at $95,848 annually, or $37,762 for five months in 2024.
“The estimated annual revenue of $56,250 for short-term rental licence fees would assist in offsetting the costs associated with the additional staffing request,” Kellington wrote.
“As such, the full impact of $95,848 for the additional staffing cost of a licensing/permitting officer/(municipal law enforcement officer) would be reduced to an annual budget implication of approximately $39,598 for 2025 and beyond.”
The short-term rental bylaw will be presented for council’s consideration at the Sept. 4 council meeting.
