By Steve Hubrecht
After years of planning and discussion, the District of Invermere finally adopted short-term rental (STR) regulations earlier this year.
Local residents began pressing Invermere council and staff at least seven years ago to do something about the ever expanding number of STRs here.
The clamour grew louder as the Village of Radium Hot Springs initiated its efforts to deal with STRs in 2019 and then became the first Columbia Valley municipality to adopt STR regulations in the summer of 2021 (in the form of an STR bylaw). The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) followed suit not long after, adopting its STR regulations in summer 2022. Instead of a business licensing bylaw, the RDEK opted to use temporary use permits (TUPs) to control STRs.
Invermere continued on it own path, eventually deciding to use both a business licensing bylaw and TUPs to deal with STRs. These regulations came into effect on May 1 this year.
At the time, members of the public expressed doubt that district staff would be able to handle the potential avalanche of STR licence applications pouring in; and expressed doubt that Invermere’s lone bylaw officer would be able to handle all of the complaints about STRs operating with the proper licences or about STR operators breaking noise and parking rules.
With the regulations now in place for three months, have any of these predictions come true?
Not at all, according to Invermere Mayor Al Miller.
Part of the reason is that Invermere planner Catherine Charchun, who Miller said has “taken on the STR portfolio” has been on leave with a serious injury and only just recently returned.
The other reason is that there has not been a cascade of STR business licence applications, nor a flurry of STR complaints.
“There have been a few applications come in, but we haven’t been able to do much with them. But we will now that (Charchun) is back,” said Miller.
Exactly how many complaints have there been?
“Just a little. I couldn’t give you a number, but it is small. We have had some, about noise, but nothing serious yet,” said Miller.
Currently any complaints that come in are handled by bylaw officer Mark Topliff. If the trickle does eventually become a torrent, what will the district do?
“We’ll have to figure out how to handle it, if there does start to be many,” said Miller.
That could possibly include hiring other people to help Topliff, he outlined, although he cautioned that “it’s a conversation we (Invermere council) have yet to have.”
Other municipalities in the East Kootenay have hired extra bylaw officers specifically to deal with STRs (in one case going from one bylaw officer to three).
A McGill report estimated the number of STRs in Invermere at 180. If only a few of them have applied for STR licences, how will the district deal with STR operators that continue to rent out their properties without licences?
That too is something that council has yet to figure out, said Miller.
In terms of a timeline for figuring out these details, getting on top of STR applications, and determining if extra bylaw officers are needed, Miller said “I like to think it will be in the near future, but I hesitate to put a timeline on it just yet,” noting the district has a number of other pressing priorities that it must also balance, including finding a new chief administrative officer.
