By Steve Hubrecht
[email protected]
The district of Invermere has launched an online survey to help gauge public opinion on short-term rentals (STRs) in the community.
The survey went live late last week on the district’s website, and is intended to follow on a similar STRs survey conducted by the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) this summer.
“We’ve had many, many comments on the need to get a handle on STRs. There are quite a lot of them in the valley, and in Invermere. There’s been some issues with them in terms of noise concerns, and parties. On the other hand, there have been a lot of positives from an economic standpoint. What is needed is proper management,” Invermere mayor Al Miller, told the Pioneer.
Miller added it simply makes sense to keep the survey in the same vein as the RDEK’s because “we have to manage the issue similarly up and down the valley.”
While the survey is ongoing, district staff will be taking a look at what other municipalities across B.C. are doing in terms of STRs management.
“We want to know which management strategies work well and which work less well,” said Miller. “There’s no need to re-invent the wheel.”
He noted that the village of Radium Hot Springs recently became the first municipal entity in the Columbia Valley to tackle the STR issue in an administrative way, having adopted a bylaw to regulate STRs there.
“Certainly, we are interested to see what happens there and take that into consideration. We’ll soon see how Radium’s approach works, and of course, that will greatly inform our approach,” said Miller.
Invermere council should have the survey results by late Oct. or early Nov. and will be able to determine its next step on STRs from there.
The survey deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 12.
To take the survey, or simply learn more about it, visit: invermere.net/short-term-rentals-project/
