CENTRE WELLINGTON – The municipality has hired a company to help with public consultation while creating regulations for short-term rental accommodations.
Following staff's recommendations during a council meeting Monday evening, Centre Wellington council has chosen Maclaren Municipal Consulting to complete the consultation and other activities required to develop a licensing bylaw framework to regulate short-term rental accommodation in the township.
This follows council direction to staff to begin a multi-step process encompassing extensive public consultation and inventorying short-term accommodations in the municipality last December.
"We've done extensive research on how other municipalities have rolled this out so we know what the issues and the fixes are but what we don't know is what's best for this community," said municipal clerk Kerri O'Kane, during the meeting. "So we have to ask the stakeholders...and that's all the stakeholders whether you're an owner or a resident. The public consultation is a huge part of this project."
Including HST and a staff-recommended contingency, the project was tendered at $86,220.
The cost of hiring a public consultant was not budgeted for in the 2024 budget or the township's strategic plan and is to be funded through the general capital reserve.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
