Between the birds, the blossoms, the traffic and the Saturday Market opening, spring has very much arrived. And that means it’s tourist season.
With many Canadians planning summer vacations that hold to this side of the U.S. border, communities like ours are cautiously anticipating a bumper crop of visitors. And against that backdrop, Salt Spring’s Local Trust Committee (LTC) has decided to amplify the province’s efforts to regulate short-term rentals in hopes of nudging the long-term rental market towards affordability.
But the action –– a request to the province for Salt Spring to be included in B.C.’s principal residency requirement for short-term rental properties –– has led to competing theories on effects. They range from the utter death of tourism, as small B&Bs shutter from overregulation, to an explosion of new accommodations as formerly hesitant home-based entrepreneurs run toward the bright lights of clear guidelines.
There is also a fair argument to be made that opting in will change little; Salt Spring’s land use bylaws already enumerate that the island’s only permitted short-term rentals are where home-based businesses are allowed by zoning, and that business is operating a bed and breakfast (including “a morning meal to paying guests”). And all home-based businesses, per those bylaws, “must be operated by a person permanently residing on the premises in which the home-based business is conducted.”
Backing any of these theories with data requires an impossible accounting of current unpermitted activity, pent-up demand and what might be going on in islanders’ heads.
Regardless, none of these possible results will happen immediately. As local trustee Laura Patrick was quick to point out, even if the province accepts the request (and we’ve no reason to believe they won’t), the decision does not go into force until November –– although anyone playing by the rules must still register by May 1 –– and it’s unclear even now how the provincial registry will be updated.
Taking this action during such uncertain times is unquestionably bold; for the sake of everyone who lives and works on the island, we hope it helps.