Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Short-Term Accommodation (STA) property owners within Greater Napanee will now be required to register for a license with the town or face a penalty.
STAs-such as Airbnb, involve property owner renting out a house or condo, typically for a few days. The practice has exploded in popularity in recent years but they aren’t without their concerns, usually from permanent residents who live near by whether it be from excessive noise or messes left from guests who most often aren’t from the area.
Greater Napanee town council voted to pass a by-law on the matter at their June 14 meeting. Councillor John McCormack made the motion based off a report compiled by town by-law officer Aggie Hill, which included three possible options. McCormack made the motion to adapt Option 3-implement a STA licensing program and strengthen existing property regulation by-laws, while also having two flat fees and differentiate the fees based on the types of STAs, being absentee property owners and primary residences.
McCormack’s motion included the provision that staff would craft a report on costs that would be associated with having more enforcement as well as the fee structure.
“Two and a half years we’ve been going at this, I think we just need to bite the bullet and do what is right at this time,” McCormack said of developing a STA by-law. “Have a basic program that is in place that we can massage as we go along. I’m happy to wait till the next meeting to get more information for what is needed for fees and whatnot, but I’m going to stand pretty pat on this that we need to see us have a by-law in place.”
Councillor Ellen Johnson agreed.
“I think the question of managing this and applying penalties is going to be larger than we are thinking of initially,” said Johnson. “I would like to see all those building blocks in place before we take that step, but I agree we need to take that step forward and work towards that.”
Hill’s report indicates there are currently 60 STAs operating within Greater Napanee, a number councillor Terry Richardson says is likely much lower than the actual number.
“It suggests that there’s 60,” Richardson said of the report. “I’m going to suggest that there’s far more than 60. We’re not looking at completely outlawing these places, all we want to do is regulate them. We want to make sure there’s septic systems, we want to make sure of the roads going in, we want to make sure that there’s rules that are involved with respect to these Air Bn’Bs.”
Councillor Dave Pinnell, who abstained from voting on the motion, said the town should be less concerned about ensuring the proper septic systems are in place for rental properties-that should be the responsibility of the property owner he says-and more worried about protecting neighbours from unruly guests.
Deputy mayor Max Kaiser echoed the concerns about identifying the actual number currently in operation.
“My concern is that there may be more than we think there is based on the survey technique,” said Kaiser. “I spent some time in other communities in the last couple of weeks and I’ve talked to other people in other communities. I returned today from Tobermory, and in the municipality of (Northern Bruce Peninsula) they have over 1,000 STAs. When they put in a registration by-law similar to the one we were discussing earlier, they now have 175 registered. That means there’s still 825 operating without registering. The point is the locals have a real problem with them and it continues because there’s a lack of respect of the rules by the guests of these and the hosts are largely absent.”
Kaiser says a by-law to regulate guest behaviour is only good if there’s staff on hand to enforce it, even if that means responding to a call at 11:30 p.m.
“I’m fine with the existing by-laws if they’re adequate to regulate the activities, but the key point is connectivity to the personnel that can actually provide the enforcement when the enforcement needs to happen,” said Kaiser.
Staff is expected to bring a report to the June 28 meeting about the costs that could be associated with enforcing the by-law and penalties for those who don’t register.
-Kristie Kelly, Greater Napanee’s manager of environmental compliance, joined the meeting virtually to provide her annual update on the town’s landfills.
“Based on the recent survey of the South Fredericksburgh Waste Disposal site, its expected that the landfill portion of the site has a remaining capacity of approximately 40 years,” said Kelly, noting that time line could be altered if there were any issues found during the monitoring of ground water in the area. She also provided some stats on the town’s waste diversion from the South Fred and Roblin locations.
“In total over 115 tons of recyclables were transferred from both sites in 2021,” said Kelly. “Last year the South Fred site saw over 5,400 vehicles go through there and the Roblin site saw just over 2,100 vehicles through the site.”
-Councillor Bob Norrie raised concerns over activity taking place on a wooded lot in town.
“Richmond Park Boulevard, north end by the trees, we have a bit of a tent city happening there,” said Norrie. “There’s needles, there’s fire pit, there was Emergency Services had a call Sunday, I believe it was an overdose, I’m not sure.”
Norrie added residents have told him taxis are dropping people off at this location and food is being delivered. Because the land is private property, Norrie requested town staff contact the owner, who lives out of town, to discuss the matter.
Norrie says residents are also concerned about smoke spotted coming from behind piles of brush at the Napanee Fairgrounds.
99 Advance Ave in Napanee could be the future home of the Town of Greater Napanee’s municipal building.
-Council concluded the meeting by going into closed session to further discuss the acquisition of 99 Advance Ave., which would be used for the town’s administrative building if successfully acquired. Following the closed session mayor Marg Isbester provided a report, indicating council has agreed to instruct staff to authorize the purchase of the building for $5.8 million for the building and its contents. A fulsome report outlying financing options will be presented at the June 28 meeting.