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Short Term Accommodation (STA ) Update

Council has voted to block new STAs in Residential Zones

On August 28th, 2023 our Council passed a Bylaw to Adopt an Amendment to the Town of The Blue Mountains Official Plan(OP).  

This Amendment will not permit new Short Term Accommodations in Residential Zones.  STAs will be limited to Exception areas that are mapped out in the OP.

How did this happen?

In 2021 the town passed a bylaw to stop the spread of STAs in existing residential zones ("R1 Zones").  But the bylaw was not sufficient; an amendment to the Official Plan was also required.  This omission was discovered when an owner applied for a zoning change, which was granted.  This amendment now fixes this gap.

Why is this important?

Today the Town has over 9,100 individual residential units, and there are over 340 licensed STAs.  So STAs  make up 3.7% of the total.  However in 2022 STAs accounted for 18.3% of all OPP noise complaints, which is almost 5 times higher than statistics would indicate.  These statistics were derived from data provided by the Town.

40+ of the 340+ licensed STAs are in residential areas where they are not currently permitted but do exist because of ‘Grandfathering’. They can bring more vehicular traffic, garbage management, noise and other nuisances to our quiet neighbourhoods.

Living beside an STA is not like living beside a regular neighbor; homes do not normally have 8 to 20 residents. We don’t need more STAs in our Residential neighbourhoods.

Passing this OP Amendment should provide protection that our residents require. This great news for everyone living in a Residential area.  We now have proper protection from having one of these businesses open up next to us.

We thank Council for addressing this important issue.

Regards,

Terry Kellar

Chair STA Committee

The BMRA’s Annual General Meeting is Coming up!

October 21st, 2023 at 9:30 AM

The Marsh Centre

187 Marsh Street, Clarksburg