Parksville mayor Doug O'Brien and his council colleagues are looking for clarity on how pending short-term rental legislation will impact local tourism accommodations (Submitted photo)

By Ian Holmes

STR questions

Parksville pitches short-term rental legislation exemptions, seeks clarity on pending new rules

Nov 10, 2023 | 5:24 AM

PARKSVILLE — Proposed adjustments have been formalized by the City of Parksville with the hope of excluding certain areas of the community from proposed short-term rental (STR) regulations.

A recently unanimously approved notice of motion asked City staff to request that the province exclude several areas of Parksville slated to be included in the provision that STR operators must live on the property.

The City wants off-site operators to be able to continue offering STR options in areas of the community under the following zoning designations: resort lands, tourist commercial, mixed use (tourist commercial), downtown waterfront and restricted recreation.

“To ensure that they consider granting an exemption for the people that are using short-term rentals for tourist accommodation that was purpose-built for that,” mayor Doug O’Brien said in an interview with NanaimoNewsNOW.

While hotels and motels are exempt from the Short-Term Rental and Accommodation Act, O’Brien said it’s not clear whether resort and tourist accommodations in Parksville will be lumped into the pending changes.

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The mayor estimates in the range of 200 short-term tourist units are currently in limbo due to the lack of clarification.

“They don’t really fall under the hotel and motel designation that would have been exempted naturally, there’s somewhere in between, they are little cottages or cabins that were built for the tourism industry,” O’Brien said.

Notably, neighbourhoods under single-family and medium to high density residential zoning distinctions are not included in the City of Parksville’s STR exemption request.

O’Brien said he understands the idea of pushing more properties onto the long-term housing rental market, like single-family homes.

“And I get that, this is no way asking for exemptions for those properties.”

Saying housing affordability and availability are significant issues in Parksville, O’Brien said progress has been made in recent years to get the rental vacancy rate closer to three per cent, as opposed to an extremely unhealthy level of under one per cent previously.

He said additional information is expected in the days ahead from the province to clarify how the STR legislation will work.

In mid October the B.C. Government revealed its plan “to return thousands of homes” to long-term housing from the fast-growing STR market.

Communities with more than 10,000 people, while Qualicum Baech is also included given its proximity to Parksville.

Areas exempt from the principal property residence requirement include regional districts, resort communities and municipalities under 10,000 people.

All STR hosts and platform services in B.C. will will need to apply for and be granted a provincial registration number.

The province anticipates the provincial registry will be in place late in 2024.

STR platforms would be mandated to share information, including about its STR hosts, to the province to assist in enforcing provincial regulations.

STR operators caught breaking local STR bylaws can be fined $3,000 per day of infraction, up from $1,000 per day currently.

According to the province, about about 28,000 STR listings in BC were operating as of last month, an increase of 20 per cent from the year before.

A technical briefing outlining how the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act would work in B.C. can be found here.

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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes