Commercial guest accommodation in residential buildings address a growing demand on Bowen Island, especially in the busy summer season, but, according to the Land Use Bylaw (LUB), they are not legal outside of Snug Cove. The Bowen Island Municipality (BIM) has not been actively enforcing the bylaw and has charged the Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) to take a closer look at these practices. At the Monday, July 8, council meeting, Gordon Ganong and Murray Atherton of EDAC presented a report on the committee's findings and ideas.
"EDAC recognizes that the operation of commercial guest accommodation potentially offers economic support to property owners and operators and helps to fill a demand for vacation rental accommodation," the report says, adding that EDAC supports commercial guest accommodation outside of the cove.
"In essence, we are recommending that the existing bylaw is not enforced," Ganong stated, adding that EDAC has also identified a series of conditions that need to be met by the owners and operators to make sure the commercial guest accommodation doesn't negatively impact the neighbours. The report says that "EDAC also recognizes the rights of Bowen residents to dwell in their residential neighbourhoods in a manner that is consistent and respectful of the designated zoning."
Murray Atherton explained that the committee has closely looked at the Official Community Plan (OCP) as well as the LUB and found that the language that describes vacation rental facilities is not consistent. "The LUB has not been updated since the OCP was updated in 2010 and the definitions may need to be changed to reflect the OCP," the EDAC report states, adding that the term short term vacation rental is used in many communities as well as in Bowen's OCP.
EDAC also explains the difference between commercial guest accommodation and bed and breakfasts. "The LUB provides regulations for bed and breakfasts that limit the number of guest bedrooms to four or five, depending on the size of the lot and the size of the accessory building," the report states. "The regulations do not allow a separate kitchen or cooking facilities for use by guests of a bed and breakfast."
"Our next step was to come up with a recommendation," Atherton said, drawing attention to the committee's draft bylaw enforcement policy.
"[If] the owner or manager of the property does not take steps to mitigate issues identified in written complaints by owners or residents of neighbouring properties about bona fide serious nuisance issues such as noise, parking congestion or trespassing related to commercial guest accommodation," EDAC recommends the enforcement of the bylaw, provided that the issues are reported to the RCMP or the bylaw enforcement officer.
Among additional causes for enforcing the bylaw, EDAC listed health and safety reasons, that the regulations governing noise or site specific regulations concerning issues like parking and trespassing are not clearly posted or communicated to guests, or that there is no local contact available 24/7 in case of problems and emergencies.
Councillor and Islands Trust trustee Andrew Stone said he is aware of issues on other Gulf and northern islands. "There are examples of property management companies that manage large tracks of short term vacation rentals that are not operated on the ground. Often the only communication happens over the phone and that [type of management] has created significant problems."
Councillor Alison Morse explained that this practice has prompted EDAC to include the clause about on-island contacts. "The idea is to have someone available so that the neighbours can phone at 2 a.m. in morning if there are problems and someone can come and address the issue," she said.
"The operators have to operate within guidelines. If there are challenges and the operators are not responding to the problems, the bylaws should be enforced," Atherton said, adding that the majority vacation rentals on the island are "run very professionally" and EDAC has been in contact with the Bowen Island Accommodation Association to get input.
Councillor Cro Lucas explained that the intent of deferring the issue to EDAC was to deal with a case where complaints have come forward. He suggested to look at issuing business licenses as a way to regulate guest accommodation on the island. "We should move toward the ability to do that. It is on my 'wish to do' list," he said. Ganong added that it is difficult to know what businesses are in operation without business licenses.
"There was a lot of work done on business licensing a few years ago," Morse said. "But here we can't rely on business licenses because we can't issue a license for something that isn't authorized in the LUB."
Atherton said that the draft bylaw enforcement policy is a temporary solution to effectively address present concerns while the LUB is under review. "Once we have updated the LUB, then we can have a structure in place to deal with vacation rentals," he said.
Chief administrative officer Kathy Lalonde suggested referring the draft bylaw enforcement policy to the bylaw officer for review. "This [policy] is a band aid until we can sink our teeth into the LUB and the OCP," Lalonde added.
