Parking is the latest concern around short-term rentals in Sicamous.
District of Sicamous staff has been working on regulations to address short-term rental operations in the community. At the district’s Aug. 24 planning and development committee meeting, staff introduced a draft of a business licence application for short-term rental owners/operators.
In addition to providing basic information such as where a rental is located, what type of rental it is (guest room, secondary suite or strata unit), and the number of bedrooms, the draft details numerous requirements and considerations for applicants. There is a maximum occupancy of two people per guest room. Short-term rental licensees “need to proactively cooperate with neighbours and the District in ensuring minimal impact on the neighbourhood…” For strata, applications must include a letter of authorization from the strata council. Applicants must also have someone who lives within an hour of the rental and will be available to respond to phone calls within 15 minutes throughout any guest stay.
Other information centres around insurance, fire safety and a parking plan.
When advertising a short-term rental, licence holders must list their business licence number, the number of bedrooms available and off‐street parking spaces available to guests, “explicitly specifying that this number equals the maximum number of vehicles that paying guests of the property are permitted to bring, and maximum guest occupancy on all booking platforms.”
Failure to provide this information could result in the licence being revoked.
Read more: Sicamous council raises concerns around short-term rentals and proposed bylaw
Read more: Sicamous committee suggests short-term rentals be regulated through business licensing
Regarding parking, Coun. Gord Bushell expressed concern with a couple of strata properties, one on Highway 97A and one on Riverside Avenue.
“They have inadequate parking…,” said Bushell. “Owners are renting their places out while they leave their boats in their parking spots down in the parkade, so then the people are parking out on the street and that’s where everybody is having the problem…”
Other committee members shared Bushell’s concerns.
Coun. Malcolm Makayev suggested the licence application also has a clear definition of what constitutes a bedroom.
One of the questions on the application is where (what platforms) people plan to advertise their short-term rental. Asked why that’s there, district development services manager Scott Beeching said it’s so staff can have a look at them and see how many bedrooms are advertised.
lachlan@saobserver.net
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