CENTRE WELLINGTON ‒ Regulations are coming to short-term accommodation rentals in the township.
Approved during a council meeting Monday evening, a new staff report presented two options for managing short-term accommodation (STA) rentals in Centre Wellington with no recommendation either way.
While option one proposed no regulations and would involve maintaining the status quo, council moved to investigate the second option which proposed a multi-step process with reports to council at various stages, including an "extensive" public consultation process.
"We need to approach this in a more methodical way ... where we're not just putting in a bylaw for the sake of putting in a bylaw," said Mayor Shawn Watters, advocating for option two during the meeting. "If we just go at this very quickly and get something in place, I think we'll be very disappointed and I think the public would be disappointed in us."
According to the report, a review conducted by a vacation rental data analytics company identified approximately 251 STA's and 217 unique rental units listed in Centre Wellington with 80 per cent being an entire home and 20 per cent being a partial home.
"If we have too many Airbnb's or short-term accommodations in a neighbourhood, we start to lose the long-term rental options for residents," said Coun. Bronwynne Wilton, in support of option two. "(I'm worried about) getting into a situation where residents might not have neighbours anymore ... which is not great from a community health perspective."
Wilton also suggested implementing a municipal accommodation tax down the line to provide another source of revenue for the community and allow "tourism to pay for tourism."
"We recognize that the short-term accommodation is causing some strife in the community," said Coun. Barb Evoy, supporting option two. "(This) is a problem, specifically in Elora and definitely in both communities and I hate to look at our neighbours and say sorry we have nothing for you at this time."
Using the municipal parking strategy as a proxy, staff currently anticipate the engagement of an external consultant ranging from $50,000 to $100,000, funded from the general capital reserve as an addition to the 2024 capital budget.
CAO Dan Wilson also clarified that if council proceeds with option two, short-term rental accommodation controls will be in place for the next tourist season.
Public consultation, including the owners of STAs, is recommended as many municipalities have experienced considerable pushback from owners while implementing regulations.
The full report is available here.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
