The municipality of East Ferris is cooking up a by-law to regulate short term rentals within the area. The by-law will apply to rental units rented for a period of less than 28 days in a row, those units “commonly associated with, but not limited to, listings on websites such as Airbnb and Vrbo,” explained East Ferris’ director of community services, Greg Kirton.
The idea of a by-law specifically governing short term rentals was bandied about this past fall, during a September 28 council meeting. Mayor Pauline Rochefort mentioned she had received “letters from residents” regarding short term rentals, and council agreed to investigate options.
See: Short-term rentals on East Ferris’ radar
They created a plan to gather feedback from the people, and the municipality consulted with the public between February 25 and March 11.
This feedback will be presented to council and discussed at the March 22 meeting. At this meeting a draft version of the by-law will be developed.
Another round of public consultation will take place soon after, currently scheduled to occur from March 25 to April 1. This will allow residents the opportunity to comment on the specifics within the draft by-law.
Those comments will be brought to council, along with proposed changes to the draft version of the by-law. This will occur at the April 12 meeting. Once April 26 rolls around, and council meets again, they will have the opportunity to make any further revisions if necessary, and finally, vote on whether to adopt the by-law.
See: Good Neighbours of Bonfield urge council to stop short term rentals
See: Bonfield council searching for the key to calm short term rental issue
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
