Despite a recommendation to deny, the regional district has instead approved a temporary use permit for a vacation rental in rural Oliver.
On June 2 the board considered an application to allow a temporary vacation rental at 5607 Cactus Street in RDOS Area C. The applicant stated it is for “Airbnb rental income” from May 1 to Oct. 31 in a suite with a deck and one parking spot.
The property is comprised of a principal dwelling and accessory building with a sleeping unit and washroom.
Since the property is on a septic system and is under one hectare in size, an accessory dwelling is not currently permitted on the parcel. The property is within the Agricultural Land Reserve and has been classified as “residential” by BC Assessment.
Chief Administrative Officer Bill Newell said this is an illegal, non-conforming accessory building that was never approved as a dwelling.
“We haven’t inspected it as a dwelling unit and they haven’t gone through the process to determine whether it is safe,” Newell said.
Regional planner Danielle DeVries said the suite was originally permitted and subsequently built as a hobby room addition to an existing detached garage. She noted that a vacation rental is not permitted in an accessory building due to such structures not being constructed to residential standards.
DeVries said the applicant could operate a vacation rental from the principal dwelling or construct a legal secondary suite within the principal dwelling and operate the vacation unit from that space.
She pointed out that a building inspector conducted a health and safety inspection on the property and found that the plumbing, carbon monoxide detectors and fire detectors would need updating should a permit be approved.
If the permit is denied, the shower, tub and sleeping unit would need to be decommissioned, DeVries pointed out.
When asked for direction, Area C director Rick Knodel said he agreed with his Advisory Planning Committee that if brought into safe compliance, the applicant could be allowed to continue.
The board was told that if the applicant wanted to reapply for the permit after addressing these issues, they would have to wait a year.
In the end, the board gave approval subject to the following: a building permit be issued and the works be completed to the satisfaction of the regional district based on plumbing additions in the bathroom and kitchenette, hard wired fire detectors, and hard wired carbon monoxide detectors.
