Licensing changes

A cap of zero on future STAs, with exemptions

While some may say the damage has already been done, that the horse has already bolted from the proverbial barn when it comes to an out-ofcontrol short-term accommodation problem in Prince Edward County, several significant changes are coming to STA licensing. First and foremost, no more new licences will be issued for STA properties. Exemptions to this recommendation include primary residences and accessible properties, not in R3 or R4 zones. In a report presented to the Committee of the Whole meeting last Thursday, staff’s recommendations included an amendment to the STA licensing bylaw to include, among other things, a natural person (a human being), as opposed to a numbered company or corporation for all new STA licence applications. Further, staff will establish a system of administrative penalties for non-compliance of STA bylaws that will include penalties for failure to post STA licence numbers on any STA advertising.

Emily Cowan, Director of Community Services, Programs and Initiatives noted the staff report was a fairly complicated report and was based on recommendations contained in the March 10 Committee of the Whole meeting. “Basically, staff are recommending a cap of zero on all future STA licences, except for owner-occupied STAs,” explained Cowan. “Those that operate STAs in their primary residence, and fully accessible STAs as wholehome STAs having up to three active licences in any time period, and those accessible STAs could not operate in a R3 or a R4 zone.”

Explaining what the R3 and R4 zones are, Cowan confirmed R3 is for mixed-type housing of townhouses, apartments, semi-attached, attached and triplexes. “These are considered to be more affordable and attainable housing,” said Cowan. “A lot of new housing being developed is in R4 zones, so we are trying to protect these more affordable and attainable housing types from being used as STAs. R4 is our newest zone with smaller setbacks and other provisions that make it easier to build on a smaller lot.”

Recommendations from staff also include a new zoning bylaw amendment to remove STA provisions from the zoning bylaw, putting them into the STA bylaw. “All the STA licensing provisions that are currently in the zoning bylaw, that don’t actually have anything to do with land use, can be removed and put into the STA licensing bylaw, and therefore not be affected by grandfathering going forward,” said Cowan. “We are also going to update the administrative penalty bylaw for failure to post STA licence numbers on any STA advertisement,” she said.

An audience comment from Matt Pennock, board member of the Licensed Short-Term Accommodators of Prince Edward County, included concern on the proposal for only natural persons to own an STA. Pennock also had issue with the proposed penalty structure. “In this current climate of sue first and ask questions later, there are many operators who would choose to hold an STA in the name of a corporation for a number of reasons, including protecting themselves from being personally liable if an accident were to happen,” said Pennock. “If the County’s concern is to have that cap of one STA per licence owneroccupied residence, whether it’s in a person’s name or corporate name, then we should create a bylaw for that reason,” he said.

“To restrict a person from using their own property in the name they may choose seems like a breach of personal rights.”

Pennock also took issue with the fines imposed on STA owners who do not comply with stating their STA licence number on their advertising. He noted the fines of $1,000, $2,000 and $4,000 are the same for licensed STAs as unlicensed STAs, something that most unlicensed operators would consider just the cost of doing business. “A $1,000 fine to a licensed operator for a potential admin error of not posting a licence seems excessive. After all, why wouldn’t a licensed operator want their licence on an advertisement?” He suggested the fines imposed for unlicensed STAs should be much harsher, such as $10,000, $25,000 and $50,000 for unlicensed offenders. Pennock suggested licensed operators only be given a warning for the first offence and a fine of $100 or $500 for subsequent licence number offences.

“This STA program has been operating for three-plus years now and we still haven’t anything with any teeth to seek out and go after unlicensed operators,” said Pennock. “What we need is a system of punishments which are fair and effective at modifying offending behaviour.” Cowan said she agreed that smaller fines for those who have just made a mistake and had a licence but didn’t post it, would be more appropriate. “There is still a cost to us doing the work to look through the platforms to find numbers,” she said. Cowan suggested fines should perhaps be $50, $100 and $200. “Really, what we are trying to stop is people advertising STAs who are not licensed,“ she said.

Councillor John Hirsch asked about an insurance question Pennock raised suggesting liabilities were different for natural persons versus numbered corporations. While Cowan noted there were obvious benefits to being structured as a corporation in terms of liability, she said the rest of the provisions to add to the STA bylaw somewhat negates the issue altogether. “If we are not providing new whole-home licences, then maybe it’s a moot point to worry if they are natural persons or corporations; whole-home STAs are empty of the responsible person and owner-occupied STAs have that responsible person living in on-site.” Cowan also noted that a grandfathered STA, when it’s sold, can legally still be used as an STA because it’s rooted in the zoning bylaw. “However, the STA eligibility provisions are now in the STA bylaw, so there are other eligibility provisions in there that the new owner may or may not comply with, including density and other restrictions , so it’s not a direct re-licence,” Cowan said.

Councillor Janice Maynard asked how staff would prove primary residency for new licences, but was also looking for information regarding grandfathering. “How we are going to determine principal residency?” she asked. Arryn McNichol, Director of Corporate and Legislative Services responsible for enforcement, said they are in the process of reviewing a tender for software. “That will help us take a proactive look at catching some of these individuals operating without a licence,” said McNichol. “We have also made a number of changes within the organizational structure of the bylaw department; we should have enough staff and be structured appropriately to take this on,” he said.

structured appropriately to take this on,” he said. A public consultation is planned for June 15 as part of the Planning Committee meeting. It is expected council will ratify the amended zoning and STA licensing bylaw changes at the Council meeting on June 21. The May 12 Committee of the Whole meeting is available for viewing on the County’s YouTube channel (bit/.ly/LiveStreamPEC) with associated documentation available as part of the agenda package found on the County’s website pecounty.ca.