Stephen Bennet: “My little piece of paradise (in Whitewater) has been invaded by AirBnNs [Bed and Breakfast rentals].” He said, saying his neighbour rents their property. “I feel it infringes on the quality of the neighborhood. Is there anything going to be done to regulate the usage of properties as AirBnBs?”
“We have a zoning bylaw review of that.” Neil Nicholson said. “Right now the plan is if the new council agrees, there will be a public meeting in the new year to discuss.”
“What we’re hearing is some of these calls to regulate private property.” Donna Burns said. “You are the shareholder of the Council. We have to uphold the right to private property.”
“Before you go to Council, because they are not your police officers, you have to make an effort to resolve it with your neighbours.” she said.
Mike Moore said that the matter came up at council but was “tabled into possibly December”.
“It will not be part of the official plan. This is new territory for Whitewater Region.”
Joey Trimm expressed concern that suggestions to put noise bylaws in place to regulate AirBnB activity.
“We’ve gotta be careful about noise bylaws, because sometimes farmers have to run noisy machines at night.” he said.
Chris Olmstead said a general by-law review was in the works that would address this, and blamed the former municipalities’ separate by-laws before the amalgamation into Whitewater Region as a source of confusion.
“We have all these bylaws that are conflicting with each other.” he said. “I think this will all be a part of that bylaw review.”
