To rent, or not to rent, that is the question and with the strata of the Legacy on Mara Lake in a rift over the issue, owners have asked that Sicamous council rezone the property.
At a Committee of the Whole meeting on April 24, staff reported on the application to change it from MUR-2 seasonal accommodation which allows short-term rentals (STRs), to MUR-1, which doesn’t. This request comes a year and a half after council originally approved the opposite rezoning, from MUR-1 to 2.
Presenting the report, development services manager Nicole Hansen said the strata doesn’t currently have a bylaw for short-term rentals in its policy.
With the district having recently adopted a bylaw regulating STRs, owners have to apply for a business licence, with condos having to provide a strata consent form. With the strata board disagreement, none of the 13 applications from the Legacy have that, preventing the district from issuing business licences.
She also noted that the matter is currently before the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal, although no ruling has been made.
As a strata can make a bylaw to restrict STRs regardless of the zoning, the majority of council didn’t think this should be their decision.
“I think it should be up to the local owners to manage themselves… not have the hand of government interfere with their use of their property, as much as possible,” Coun. Malcolm Makayev said. “In this case, we have the option of leaving it to MUR-2, so the strata council or governing body of the building can dictate how they want to use their property.”
Coun. Siobhan Rich agreed, adding that as the matter is currently before the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal, they should let that play out before rezoning the property again.
“I think this needs to work its way through the CRT, and I think there’s strata rules in place, and this strata needs to be able to operate within their own rule system,” she said. “We can’t continue to go back and forth as stratas change if they’re allowing short-term or long-term.”
Hansen did say, however, that the CRT decision wouldn’t overrule the district’s zoning.
The application will come to council for first and second reading after they receive a strata resolution that demonstrates majority support for the rezoning.
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r and the RCMP abour complaints at this property, and we are aware of a BC Civil Resolution Tribunal case,” Hansen said, adding that they had hoped for a decision from that by now, which would affect council’s decision.