1731 replies to this topic

[dasmo]

And you aren’t responsible for someone else or beholden to them. STR is very appealing from that perspective too. This is somewhat self working because the reason Torino has a housing crisis is because of all the tourists. Once the tourists have no place to stay the problem is gone. Of course people will have to sell their property and the wealthy people in the know will buy them. Then ten years from now this decision will be reversed!

[Mike K.]

Where are all of the monies from tourism fees going today? There’s a lodging tax tourists pay. Millions of dollars are collected annually. Is some of that money being diverted to housing?

[dasmo]

Hahahaha

[Matt R.]

I do believe there is a requirement in local zoning to build staff accom when building new services.

Jamie, pull that up!

[phx]

 

The mayor of Parksville and a group of property owners who invested in tourism-zoned developments will send letters to three provincial cabinet ministers and Premier David Eby seeking an exemption from new short-term rental laws in B.C.

 

On Wednesday, Parksville Mayor Doug O’Brien said that he had just met the Resort Drive Advocacy Group representing the owners of 289 purpose-built short-term vacation homes adjacent to Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park.

 

It seems to me that those properties are best characterized as “motels”. That is, the STR law doesn’t apply.

[Victoria Watcher]

Not likely described as such in zoning. Or for property taxation.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 March 2024 - 10:33 AM.

[phx]

Apparently they are zoned for transient accommodation.

[Mike K.]

Hmmm, thinking back, so were downtown Victoria’s and Vic West’s new condos.

[Victoria Watcher]

Yup. Provincial law just overrode it.

[Matt R.]

Apparently they are zoned for transient accommodation.

Were zoned? Isn’t that what changed here?

[Nparker]

Yup. Provincial law just overrode it.

Welcome to democracy NDP style. 

[phx]

Were zoned? Isn’t that what changed here?

 

Yeah, I’m not an expert on the new regulations. The “traditional” hotels/motels are not affected, but it isn’t clear to me that the Parksville properties are affected.

[Victoria Watcher]

Residential zoning is affected.

Motel zoning isn’t.

[spanky123]

It seems to me that those properties are best characterized as “motels”. That is, the STR law doesn’t apply.

 

The properties are stand alone houses and duplex's for the most part.  They were zoned as part of the resort drive tourist area to ensure that there was enough accommodation for snowbirds in the winter and families over the summer.  Both groups are critical to the Parksville economy. Under the current zoning you cannot live in any of the properties for more then 6 months a year.  Under the proposed STR changes you cannot live in any of the properties for less than 6 months a year (without paying the additional tax).

 

Obviously one of the two will have to give.

Edited by spanky123, 24 March 2024 - 08:49 AM.

[dasmo]

Parksville government are going to earn their money now. Time to sue the province.

[Victoria Watcher]

Many Parksville property owners are breathing a sigh of relief after the B.C. government granted an exemption for the popular resort community just over a month before new provincial short-term rental regulations take effect.

 

Parksville Mayor Doug O’Brien got a phone call from Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon Wednesday morning who told him the approximately 400 properties along Resort Drive — a mix of hotels, motels, multiplexes, cabins and cottages — will be exempted from the new rules.

 

“It’s been a bit of a haul, but that’s OK,” said O’Brien, who has been lobbying for the properties built under municipal tourism zoning to keep operating as short-term rentals.

 

He credited Kahlon and Housing Ministry staff for “keeping an open mind and seeking more information” about the situation in Parksville, which doesn’t have enough hotels and motels to meet demand.

 

Resort Drive was purpose-built as tourism accommodation starting more than 20 years ago, said O’Brien, and if the area wasn’t exempted, it would have had a “huge effect on the economy. It would have removed 44 per cent of our tourism accommodations.”

 

The new rules, which come into effect on May 1, require short-term rentals to be in an operator’s principal residence only, or a secondary suite or a laneway home.

 

Municipalities can choose to opt out if their community has a rental vacancy rate of three per cent or more for two consecutive years.

 

On Wednesday, the province outlined the criteria for exemptions for “strata hotels” and “strata motels,” individually owned strata lots where accommodation is provided in a manner similar to a hotel or motel that are often rented out by the strata hotel or motel, not the individual owner.

 

To qualify for the exemption, the strata hotel or motel must have been providing a hotel- or motel-like accommodation before Dec. 8, 2023, and requires the strata hotel or motel to have a staffed front desk on site, employees or contractors that provide housekeeping services for overnight accommodations, and a web platform providing service exclusively for the use of owners offering short-term rentals at the property.

 

The exemption also kicks in if the facility has been operating like a hotel before Dec. 8, 2023, and has at least one strata lot that can’t be used as a principal residence due to a zoning restriction, a rental management agreement, or a restrictive covenant.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...l-rules-8520733

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 March 2024 - 02:32 AM.

[lanforod]

So would that apply to the Janion? If not, I'd say those folks still have a beef.

 

I think that Resort drive stretch just increased in value.

[Mike K.]

Comparables in Victoria, I think, would be the Parkside time-share development on Blanshard at Humboldt, and the Oswego Hotel time-share on Menzies at Kingston.

 

The Parksville properties sound like they're primarily private-owned units managed as a hotel/transient lodging.

 

But it absolutely does open up a legal review of how zoned and permitted AirBnBs in Victoria that were grandfathered were suddenly prohibited from their ability to operate as such.

[Victoria Watcher]

Short-term-rental-unit owners file lawsuit against province and City of Victoria

 

Enforcement against short-term units is to start May 1. New law bans most short-term rentals that are not part of an owner’s principal residence.

https://www.timescol...ictoria-8590100

[lanforod]

I hope the BCSC sides with the owners in this case. Regulate / tax the units, sure and that is what most jurisdictions do. Banning them is short sighted thinking.