User fees associated with the city’s new short-term rental bylaw are a step closer to being implemented.
A council committee gave the green light Tuesday to the proposed fee structure.
Included is a $600 application fee, $275 renewal fee and $1,600 appeal fee.
Beverly Hillier, Manager of Planning & Building Services, says the fees are based on full-cost recovery.
“What we did was took the proposed bylaw and the process involved in that bylaw in terms of when somebody submits their application, what are the steps are involved, whose involved in it and how much time is associated to that and developed for the City of North Bay what the 100 percent cost recovery is,” she says.
Pointing to other municipalities, councillors had questions around possible fee ranges for different types of short-term rentals, based on their size or rooms available.
One local resident, Jim Kilroy, asked about possibly grandfathering in existing short-term rentals to be “legal non-compliant” like other cities do if they don’t meet all of the requirements.
“They’ve been operating successfully [and] legally, and now for whatever reason may be made not legal through no fault of their own,” he says. “I think these people should be given the opportunity to continue operating and follow all the rules, pay all the fees and support their community.”
The bylaw covers which zones the short-term rentals can be located, either residential or commercial, if they are the host’s primary residence or not.
In the end, the committee approved the fee structure, as is.
Full council still has to vote on the issue.
