BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a story titled 'Township's attempt to control 'party houses' deemed overreach,' published on April 2.
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I would like to clarify for the public that short-term rentals are already illegal in residential neighbourhoods within the Township of Oro-Medonte. The only place that short-term rentals are allowed are in a VR1 zone, which would be the resort portion of Horseshoe Valley, not the residential area.
The only thing that was before the Ontario Land Tribunal was an amendment which was to clarify the definition of short-term rentals. Therefore our original bylaw which prohibits short-term rentals in residential zones still stands.
The issue in dealing with these obnoxious party houses or ghost hotels is to motivate the township to enforce their existing bylaw. For whatever reason the township has been reluctant to do so, ignoring the complaints, petitions and deputations pleading with the township to act.
The operators of these establishments seem to be under the mistaken notion that the township is trying to find a way to allow them to do business as usual.
If they hope to have these licensed, they will again come before the provincial tribunal.
The residents of the township have put up with this nightmare long enough and it is time that our elected representatives do more than give lip service to the concerns of residents. We have had promises of improved noise bylaw, more patrols of bylaw officers and OPP broken. The residents have little faith that their interest will be of more concern to the township than the interest of the absentee landlords.
Lillian McConnell
Oro-Medonte
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