Ivan Radic / CC
Northern Bruce Peninsula is making some adjustments to its Short-term Accommodation (STA) Licensing Program, which includes reducing the number of STA properties to 400.
Council approved making the changes during its meeting on March 10 and comes after discussions on making the amendments to the program last year.
The adjustments to the program include requiring property managers or people responsible for the STA to have their contact information posted at the end of the STA laneway, clarify the responsibility of property owners, and include a procedure for submitting complaints.
These are in addition to further reducing the number of STA’s in the municipality from 500 to 400.
Deputy Clerk Lindsay Forbes says there are currently 356 valid STA licenses within Northern Bruce Peninsula, with several new applications and renewals ahead of the upcoming rental season.
Coun. Laurie Golden says, “looking at it from a real estate or development perspective, you have a lot of people that can’t afford a cottage without renting it for a few weeks a year. We heard from those people and if you totally cap this, there is going to be a lot of people that are not going to be able to rent their cottage out for a few weeks and I think it will hurt those sales.”
The list of changes was put on the municipal engagement website, Let’s Talk NBP. Those who participated in the survey were in favour of implementing all the changes.
“The general feedback section of Let’s Talk NBP provided a platform for the public to share their thoughts on the effectiveness of the short-term accommodation licensing program and raise any concerns they might have,” says Forbes.
