The following are briefs from the Bowen Island Municipal Council’s regular meeting May 25.
Turmultuous:
Short term rental regulations are one reading closer to adoption. Second readings passed 5 to 2 with Kaile and Morse against. The Land Use Bylaw amendment now passes to a public hearing.
The council and community-dividing regulations would make short term rentals legal on the island’s residential lots (which they’re currently not) but with restrictions in place, most notably a 120 day limit for STRs. (If this seems like déjà vu, council passed an STR policy last November and BIM is now putting in the legal framework).
Community Planner Emma Chow told council that on the spectrum of regulatory approaches, this one is considered “permissive.”
Chow said that among the concerns raised at last week’s STR open house, which had 31 participants, were: that the regulations are too restrictive, that they could limit tourism growth and limit income, that they penalize the entire island, that BIM needs more data and that the licencing fee seems high.
The majority of councillors wanted to pass the readings so as to move the matter onto public hearing.
“The feedback that we have been receiving on this largely to date has come from people who are actively involved in short term rentals,” said Coun. Maureen Nicholson. “I’m eager to see this go to public hearing so that we can hear from the much, much larger proportion of the population that is not involved in short term rental.”
On that point Chow noted that while there’s not a high count of formal complaints about short term rentals, working in the planning department, she gets a lot of phone calls from people who do not want to lodge a formal complaint.
“These are the residents of the neighbourhoods, members of the community, that aren’t running short term rentals but are impacted by them and they have strong concerns,” said Chow. “…They don’t want to be known as that neighbour that complains against their neighbour and they understand that there is no other recourse right now since short term rentals are not permitted.
“They don’t want to be the cause of having their neighbour’s business shut down.”
Chow said during community engagement last year, she got a lot of comments from neighbours who didn’t want to go on record.
Coun. Alison Morse and Coun. Michael Kaile wanted to defer the matter for two weeks to allow time for councillors to see or read more thorough feedback from the open house. The two have also been staunchly opposed to the 120 day limit, arguing that it would force all the business into the summer months rather than spreading it over the year.
Kaile also said that there needn’t be urgency on this matter. “Given the industry is being brought to a standstill, I really think also it’s very unfortunate and very unsympathetic to…push this through right now.”
Ander said that STRs are a complicated issue. “We are not going to get it right the first time,” he said. “There’s going to be adjustments. And the big key here I think is that we move forward, we get something going.”
The details: The amendments to the Land Use Bylaw, business licence bylaw and noise enforcement bylaw would permit “residential guest accommodation” (short term rentals) on all residential lots, including those with suites, but impose a 120 days per year limit on this use. (The intent here is that beyond 120 days is a commercial use and so would go to rezoning.) Rooms would be limited to two guests and require one parking space per room. The business licence cost would be set at $300, so as to cover staff time to licence the accommodation providers and enforce the regulations. There’s also a provision that there must be a designated contact available 24 hours a day to respond to any nuisance complaint about the rental within two hours. The definition of bed and breakfasts in the Land Use Bylaw is also revised to allow for limited kitchen facilities.
Can we hit restart on 2020 too:
Council adopted the municipality’s COVID restart plan. The phase two plans (which started May 19) include:
- Snug Cove Wharf opens
- Firehall access and limited firefighter training and practices restored with enhanced protocols
- Potential for limited access to library for public computer use only
- No use of volunteers at the library
- Council, committee, public hearing and open house meetings remain online
- Muni Hall open by appointment only
- Remote work for half of BIM’s staff
- Bylaw parking enforcement resumes
- Community Recreation altering events (eg. Canada Day) and in-person programming outside only
The phase three plan, set for June through Sept. if the curve stays flattened allows for BIM’s facilities to reopen and kids camps to go ahead.
Once more:
Council voted to reiterate its stance against the Woodfibre LNG project Monday evening (in 2015 the previous council came out against the project slated to begin on Squamish shores). The move came after the province asked BIM’s interim manager for the environment, Bonny Brokenshire, to comment on an environmental assessment certificate extension for the project as the project hadn’t yet had a “substantial start.” Brokenshire’s nine-page response to the extension referral lists several issues with granting the request including that there have been legislative changes in the sound over the past five years, ensuring sound communities’ safety when it comes to LNG tanker traffic and the island’s and country’s climate emergency declarations.
BIM isn’t the only community raising concerns. The District of Squamish voted 4 to 3 last week not to support Woodfibre’s extension request unless it met Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change targets for its operation within the district to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and 100% by 2050.
––with files from Stephen Chua, Squamish Chief
Mountain sides:
While council voted unanimously last month to request that the province ban motorized use of Mt. Gardner, the letter to district recreation officer Tom Blackbird hasn’t been sent yet, and won’t be until Bowen Trail Riders Association has its say. The association is presenting at the next council meeting. However, councillors noted that they’ve had an onslaught of letters asking for the prohibition of motorized use. The matter came forward as Coun. Sue Ellen Fast wanted to request Islands Trust support in the matter. On this point, council opted to wait until the BTRA presentation.
Other tidbits:
- The Nectar Yoga rezoning was deferred until the next meeting.
- Council adopted the audited financial statements for 2019––more on this next week.
- Acting fire chief Aaron Hanen brought forward the department’s core services review implementation plan.
Watch the entire meeting:
