By Steve Hubrecht
More details about enforcement of the District of Invermere’s new short-term rental (STR) regulations emerged during last week’s council meeting.
While much of the talk on October 8 centred on temporary use permit (TUP) applications for four STRs in Invermere (see story on page 3), local officials also outlined more about the district’s use of digital contractor Granicus to monitor STRs here and to enforce the municipal STR rules that the district brought into effect this past May.
A question came from the public gallery about when the deadline is for STR owners and operators to apply for the business licences and TUPs they need to operate. (All STRs need business licences, those in areas of Invermere not zoned to allow tourist accommodation also need TUPs.)
“If they are in business, they should he applying right now,” answered Invermere mayor Al Miller.
Invermere planner Rory Hromadnik added that several letters have already been sent to people operating STRs in Invermere that have so far not applied for business licences or TUPs.
Hromadnik explained that it will take six to eight weeks to upload all the data Granicus needs to begin fully enforcing the STR regulations.
“We’re about five weeks into it (the upload process),” said Hromadnik. “More than half the data is uploaded. So we know some of it, but we don’t have the whole picture yet.”
Still, that “some of it” was already enough to identify a few STRs that appear to be flying under the radar, and to send a warning to them.
The full data upload is a “painful process” conceded Hromadnik. “But within three weeks we should have that,” he said. “We will know if you are operating an STR (illegally) and there will be a fine. That’s coming quickly.”
In the interim, district officials have been meeting with Granicus weekly. Miller explained that under Invermere’s STR regulations, there is a $500 penalty per offence, and that each single day someone operates an STR without a licence and permit is a separate offence.
This translates to a $3,500 penalty for operating an unlicensed STR for a week, or between $14,000 and $15,500 for doing so for a month.
Invermere chief financial officer Karen Cote explained that any penalty fees collected by the district will go into general revenues.
Councillor Grant Kelly pointed out that although any STR currently operating must apply for licences and permits very soon, the “intake is ongoing.” If for instance, “someone who used to do STRs stops (running the STR) for a few years. If they decide they do STRs again, they can apply (for a business licence and, if needed, a TUP). Or if someone new moves to Invermere and wants to start an STR, they can apply.”
In other words, the regulations do not mean that anyone who wants to operate an STR in Invermere at any point now or in the future must apply in the next few weeks.
Once Granicus is fully monitoring Invermere STRs, data will be re-updated each month. The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) has also hired Granicus to monitor STRs in a similar fashion in its rural electoral areas (including Area F and Area G in the Columbia Valley). Several other B.C. municipalities dealing with STRs have hired Granicus too, including Kelowna, West Kelowna, and (closer to Invermere) Kimberley. Invermere will pay Granicus slightly less than $10,000 a year for its work, and will use the money it gets from STR business licence and TUP application fees to pay Granicus.
One member of the public gallery remarked that $10,000 for Granicus is “a pretty good deal.”
Another asked if the district could produce a revenue statement report, outlining all the expenses stemming from dealing with STRs, and all the revenue brought in from licences and permit fees.
Councillor Kayja Becker said it might be a good idea to include such a report in the district’s annual budget meeting, noting it might generate a good deal of interest and improve the otherwise lackluster public attendance the budget meetings usually get.
