Attachment 1: Consideration of Vacation Rentals (Jan 5, 2026)

CONSIDERATION OF VACATION RENTALS

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT Council does not proceed with permitting vacation rentals during the period of June 1 to July 31, 2026, in support of 2026 World Cup Soccer.

ALTERNATIVE OPTION:

THAT Council authorize staff to draft a zoning bylaw to permit vacation rentals during the period of June 1 to July 31, 2026.

AND THAT:

i. two off-street parking spaces are required for a vacation rental in addition to the parking requirement for the residential uses, in accordance with the Zoning Bylaw; and ii. only permit one vacation rental on a lot as an accessory use to the dwelling unit during the period of June 1 to July 31, 2026.

AND FURTHER THAT the Vacation Rental Business Licence Application fee is $150.

There are many factors to consider when considering this alternative option to permit vacation rentals during the period of June 1 to July 31, 2026, in support of 2026 World Cup Soccer, such as zoning, business licensing, provincial regulations and licensing, and bylaw compliance and enforcement. Furthermore, a significant amount of staff time and resources would be required to legalize vacation rentals for two months. Summarized below is a list of tasks that staff would need to be undertaken should Council wish to proceed with a time-limited use through the adoption of a zoning bylaw:

• prepare reports, bylaws, public hearing notice, and public hearing agendas;
• advertise the public hearing;
• seek a legal review of the draft zoning bylaw;
• update Town’s website with information on the temporary zoning change;
• update the business licence application;
• process and manage business licence applications;
• educate residents of the temporary zoning bylaw changes; and
• enforce compliance with the zoning bylaw.

Several town staff in different departments would be involved in the implementation of this temporary zoning bylaw change. It would likely require over 40 hours of staff time to carry out the above tasks. Given the concerns raised in this report, it is recommended that Council does not proceed with the alternative option.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to provide Council with information, analysis and recommendation on permitting vacation rentals during the period of June 1 to July 31, 2026, in support of 2026 World Cup Soccer.

BACKGROUND:

At the Council meeting on December 2, 2025, Council passed the following motion:

THAT the proposed motion regarding a moratorium on enforcement of the Zoning Bylaw pertaining to short term rentals during the period of June 1, 2026 to July 31, 2026 be referred to staff for consideration and impact to the Town;

AND THAT the following motion be tabled to the January 20, 2026 Council meeting:

THAT there be an amnesty of enforcement of the Zoning Bylaw pertaining to Short Term Rentals during the period of June 1, 2026 to July 31, 2026 during the 2026 World Cup of Soccer.

The Town’s Zoning Bylaw No. 900, 2014 refers to a “short-term rental” as a “vacation rental”. On November 15, 2022, Council adopted Bylaw No. 1105 to amend the Zoning Bylaw to prohibit vacation rentals or any other form of non-residential commercial overnight accommodation as a principal or accessory use in a dwelling unit, building or on land, except specifically listed as permitted uses in a Zone, including Bed & Breakfast, Hotel, Motel, Campground or Hospital Hotel. Over the years, staff has understood that the intent to prohibit “vacation rentals” are to:

• prevent the displacement of residential units by commercial non-residential rental uses; and
• prevent neighbourhood disturbances (parking, noise, etc.) from non-residential uses in residential zones.

Following the Council meeting on December 2, 2025, staff explored permissible options to allow vacation rentals for a restricted period, in accordance with Council’s motion. The two options available to the Town are adopting a zoning bylaw to permit a time-limited use or undertaking a temporary use permit process. The opportunities and challenges of each option were reviewed and summarized below for Council’s consideration.

ANALYSIS:

Time-limited Use

The Town has the authority to adopt a zoning bylaw that would permit vacation rentals for a time-limit (i.e., June 1 to July 31, 2026). This authority is upheld under s. 479 in Part 14: Division 5 Zoning Bylaws in the Local Government Act. The benefit of this option is that it would permit what is not currently permitted or prohibited in the Zoning Bylaw. Moreover, the argument of whether the expiry of the time-limited use results in a non-conforming use protection would likely not apply as the zoning bylaw would include a time-limited clause for the valid use of the land. Under this option, no further zoning bylaw amendment would be necessary and there would be no application of non-conforming use protection.

Factors to consider with this option are the following:

• consistencies with the Town’s Official Community Plan (OCP);
• other requirements such as principal residence, number of vacation rentals on a lot, and parking; and
• the process for adopting a zoning bylaw to permit a time-limited use.

In the Town, most vacation rentals would be located on properties currently designated Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing in the OCP. Commercial non-residential rental use is not identified as a supported use in this land use designation. However, given the temporary nature of the proposed use, it could be argued that it is not inconsistent with the OCP.

Even though the vacation rental use would be time-limited under this option, it is important to consider other requirements for vacation rentals. Firstly, it is important to note that the province has a principal residence requirement that limits vacation rentals to the property host’s principal residence, the usual place where they make their home, and one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit on the same property. This provincial requirement would apply if vacation rentals were permitted in the Town regardless of the time-limited requirement. Further discussion on provincial regulations and licensing is provided below.

The parking requirement for Bed & Breakfasts is two additional off-street parking spaces. To minimize parking impacts in neighbourhoods, it is recommended that the same parking requirement is applied to vacation rentals, if approved. This requirement can be included in the zoning bylaw.

Lastly, Council may wish to note that proceeding with this option would take the same amount of work as a typical rezoning application as bylaw readings and adoption, and a public hearing would be required. Public notification for a public hearing would include posting a public notice on the public notice board and advertising the public hearing on the Town’s social media platforms, in accordance with the Public Notification Bylaw No. 1150 and Development Procedures Bylaw No. 730, 2009.

Temporary Use Permit

The purpose of a temporary use permit (TUP) is to allow a temporary use that is not permitted in a zone. Policy LU1.8 Temporary Use Permits in the OCP states the following:

Temporary Use Permits will be considered on a case-by-case basis throughout the Town.

A TUP is another option to permit a vacation rental use on a property for a time-limit. While a TUP appears to come into effect upon issuance, s.493(2)(b) in Part 14: Division 8 Temporary Use Permits in the LGA states that the permit may specify conditions under which the temporary use may be carried on. A condition could include a delayed start date if a permit is issued prior to June 1, 2026.

Unlike a time-limited use bylaw, each homeowner would need to apply for a separate TUP to be processed and considered individually by Council. The LGA authorizes delegation of TUP approvals to staff. However, aspects to consider with TUPs are that public notice must be given prior to the consideration of each TUP and legal notices of the permit must be registered against title to the lands.

Regardless of Council’s decision to delegate its authority or not, this process would be extremely time consuming and resource intensive to process and administer vacation rentals for two months, through the TUP process. It is not recommended that Council proceed with this option if there is a desire to permit time-limited vacation rentals.

Business Licensing

A vacation rental would be considered a home-based business. A business licence is required for a home-based business. The current business licence fee is $100; however, Council may wish to consider increasing the business licence fee for a vacation rental to $150 administrative cost-recovery purposes. The business licence would expire when the valid period for a vacation rental terminates.

Provincial Regulations and Licensing

The province refers to “vacation rental” as a “short-term rental”. In 2023, the province adopted the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act. The province defines a short-term rental as follows:

Short-term rentals are accommodations provided to members of the public in a host’s property, in exchange for money, for a period of less than 90 consecutive days. They are generally tourist accommodations that are often found in residential or resort areas. They may be advertised via online platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, or Booking.com, and may also be advertised on other web forums including Facebook Marketplace, or found in classified ads in newspapers.

Short-term rentals do not include accommodation that was intended to be provided for 90 days or longer, but which unexpectedly ends before 90 days have passed.

Under the provincial legislation, a short-term rental host must register with the provincial short-term rental registry and pay an annual registration fee to operate a short-term rental. Applicants are also required to provide a valid business licence to register. In addition to the registry, the province has developed tools to assist local governments to enforce short-term rental bylaws, such as platform accountability and data sharing.

If Council wishes to approve a vacation rental use with a time-limit then vacation rental hosts would still be required to register with the province and pay a fee.

Bylaw Compliance and Enforcement

Staff is concerned that there could potentially be an increase in enforcement when vacation rental hosts continue to operate their vacation rental after the time-limited use is no longer permitted. Furthermore, introducing a time-limit may create confusion on bylaw compliance and enforcement. The Town has limited staff capacity to monitor bylaw compliance and undertake enforcement of this nature.

Impacts and implications can be summarized as follows:

ALIGNMENT:

The recommended option aligns with the Town’s following core guiding documents as follows:

• Strategic Plan: N/A
• Official Community Plan: N/A
• Other Policy Documents: N/A

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GOAL:

The desired level of public participation for the recommended option is:

[ ] Inform [X] Consult [ ] Involve [ ] Collaborate [ ] Empower
[ ] N/A

TIME CRITICAL:

This report is not time critical.

CONCURRENCE:

REVIEWED BY: