Short-term rental bylaw leaves Lakeshore residents in limbo

Lakeshore residents are worried that currently operated AirBnBs may be grandfathered in within the municipality. CTV Windsor’s Bob Bellacicco explains.

Residents in Lakeshore are speaking out with their opposition of short-term rentals in Lakeshore.

Noise, people parking on grass, and lewd conduct are some of the things Argo Pace and his wife said they endure living next to a short-term rental.

“We get people violating boundaries of property lines. You know, they just feel that they can do whatever they want because they’re not being monitored,” Pace said.

“Who would want to be in this situation and is city council willing to reimburse me for that, for my problems?”

Pace lives on St. Clair Road along Lake St. Clair in Stoney Point and thought a zoning bylaw on short-term rentals, introduced by the municipality of Lakeshore in 2023, would return peace to the neighbourhood.

Town council approved a zoning by-law amendment to prohibit short-term rentals throughout the municipality. Under the by-law, rentals of 28 days or less would be subject to regulations, much like bed and breakfast outfits are.

However, those regulations have yet to be defined. Town administrators are creating a report on short-term rentals to define how they could regulate the 100 or so that existed before the zoning bylaw came into effect.

“That could be a licensing regime, but the details haven’t really been set out,” said Daniel Mercer, division leader of community planning for the municipality.

He said no new short-term rentals were allowed to be created after the bylaw passed.

“The issue is that the short-term rentals that legally operated before 2024, those are allowed to continue to exist if they were operating, in compliance with our bylaw.”

The Planning Act section 34(9) prevents new municipality zoning bylaws from interfering with the continued legal use of one’s land, building, or structure, but allows for the passing of zoning bylaws to regulate matters, including use of land and standards associated with land uses. That can include things such as location, size, setback, and parking.

“It has to respect the provincial legislation and the fact that some people may have been using or operating a building legally, prior to the date of the bylaw,” Mercer said.

Pace wants the municipality to enforce the 2023 bylaw and create regulations that would allow him and his wife to fully enjoy their property.

“If this gets grandfathered in, what happens when they sell the house?” Pace wondered.

“Does that mean that it gets grandfathered in to be another AirBnB? So, what happens to the value of my property?”

Trish McAuliffe, Pace’s neighbour, said over 100 short-term rentals exhaust inventory that could help the housing crisis.

“121 homes here that could potentially be beautiful homes for families and grow our community, invest in our community, work and play in our community,” McAuliffe said.

“Now we have people just coming in to party.”

Administration is hoping to present their report to council in the upcoming months. In the meantime, Pace and others are encouraging residents to call their councillor to let them know how they feel about short-term rentals.

Residents will have an opportunity be part of the discussion at a future council meeting.