Council rejects vacation rental application for the first time

Revelstoke City Council has rejected a vacation rental application for the first time.

The new vacation rental bylaw system came into effect in late 2014 and requires each individual property to go through a bylaw process to be converted to a vacation rental. Until now, all applications have been successful.

At council’s meeting on Feb 10, councillors unanimously rejected the application to rezone 1766 Biatecki Road to vacation rental use.

The main issue was the number of public submissions against the vacation rental plan at that property. There were eight written and five verbal submissions to council through a hearing process and the vast majority objected to it. Their reasons varied but limited parking space in the cul de sac, traffic and noise issues featured the most.

“I think there is a difficulty here in that they comply with the bylaw,” Coun. Connie Brothers said.

“Most of the complaints seem to be dealing with an enforcement issue, noise that type of thing. I don’t think at this present time I can support this, given the letters that have been submitted.”

Mayor Mark McKee also did not support the application.

“The bottom line is that it ended up being a nuisance for the neighborhood and vacation rentals have to be respectful of the neighbourhood,” he said.

The applicants will have to wait a minimum of six months to reapply, unless they revise their application.