The Planning and Development Services Department reported on the third quarter of 2023 at the Oct. 17 Gibsons committee of the whole meeting, which included planning and development, building and bylaw enforcement and business licensing.
During the presentation, staff said since January, Gibsons has issued a total of 89 business licences for residential guest accommodations (RGAs, also known as short-term rentals), a dozen of which were issued in Q3. Of those licences, 43 are for year-round entire homes (non-principal residences) and the remaining 46 are for principal residences, such as a shared home.
Bylaw compliance was high, at 92 per cent compliance, the report states. Seven RGAs were issued bylaw notices for advertising without a licence, but have all come into compliance.
“We’ve got a good review process. We’re in touch with operators and we’re at a really high compliance rate, which what we’re aiming for,” Lesley-Anne Staats, the director of planning, said.
The third quarter of 2023 also saw a large increase of business licence revenue from residential guest accommodation licensing. The total year-to-date amount of business licence revenue is $154,502, compared to $101,268 for the same period last year.
Bylaw by the numbers
Between July 1 and Sept. 30, there were 150 complaints to the Gibsons bylaw department: 30 related to the highway, 13 for noise, 22 for dogs, 22 for property, 11 for wildlife and two for recreational water lease. Of the dog complaints, most were about consistent barking, lost or found dogs and concerns about welfare. In the “other” category there were nine complaints regarding watering restrictions, seven about burning, six about signage, five for trees, four for RGAs, three about illegal dumping, garbage, business licences and/or disorderly conduct, two about smoking and one regarding fireworks, dead animal, dust, odour and an abandroned vehicle.
In the third quarter, bylaw staff began targeting specific issues for compliance. That effort resulted in 13 cautions and five bylaw notices for parking vehicles in a bike lane; 26 cautions and two notices for off-leash dogs; 67 caution notices placed on vehicles parked “contrary to the flow of traffic." The report states that of the 67 notices issued, most were for parking offences, 13 were for advertising an RGA without a licence and 16 were for operating a business without a licence.
Deputy mayor David Croal asked if staff could report back to council about the new provincial legislation regarding residential guest accommodation, which had come out the day before the meeting.
The report also noted the department received 10 new development applications, a reduction compared to the third quarter of the previous year, when 22 TUP applications were received for RGAs. In the same time period of 2021, the total new development applications were 15.
There are 32 active development applications that were received prior to the third quarter.
