The Town of Bracebridge is encouraging the public to provide details on their experiences with Short-term Rentals (STRs) in Bracebridge.
An STR is defined as, all or part of a dwelling unit, rented out for less than 28 consecutive days in exchange for payment.
This excludes hotels, motels, resorts and traditional bed and breakfast establishments.
An STR can be on an urban, rural or waterfront property. These accommodations are advertised on various online platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO and Flipkey.
The survey is available on the Town’s community engagement portal, engagebracebridge.ca/shortterm-rentals.
It only takes a few minutes to complete and will be available until June 30th. Data collected through this survey will be used by Town staff to provide recommendations to Council, and all responses will remain anonymous.
“Short-term rentals have grown in our area over the past few years as a direct result of the sharing economy and online platforms that make it easy to connect to clients,” says Cheryl Kelley, the Town’s Director of Planning and Development. “There have been a number of discussions surrounding STRs in Bracebridge largely centred around two different perspectives – complaints on behaviours of guests by neighbours and as benefits to those “hosts” who use revenues to support costs of residency. The Town will look to the input from the community to determine if there is a need and desire to regulate STRs or whether or not the existing Town by-laws such as noise control that regulate the behaviours on properties is sufficient. In early 2021, Town Staff were directed by Council to investigate Short-Term Rental issues and options that included gathering input from the public to ensure informed decision-making”.
Through comprehensive community input, the Town is seeking to develop an understanding of issues and opportunities of STRs.
Its expected that the results of the survey along with options for Council to consider will be presented to the Planning and Development Committee in the late summer of 2021.
Please visit engagebracebridge.ca/short-term-rentals to participate.
