Are by-laws enforced?
Renters are giving some residents at a condo development on Main Street a headache.
Lorne Merritt and his wife purchased and moved to a condo in the 48-unit Desert Mirage in March of 2004.
The developer, Jack Dacyk, had it all figured out and was telling people how much they could make a day. Ken Davreux was managing the rentals at the time and was telling everybody the same thing, Merritt recalled.
Town Councillor Ken Davreux ceased his role as rental manager before the new zoning bylaw came into effect and has publicly stated his support for the bylaw.
When Merritt was considering purchasing the condo, he said he had thought of doing the same thing himself, but then heard through the grapevine (and later confirmed it with the Town of Osoyoos) that rentals weren't allowed.
We went ahead with the deal, anyway, Merritt said.
However, he added the units were still being pitched with the rental potential to investors.
Now that the Town of Osoyoos has passed a new CR zoning bylaw to allow short-term rentals only within the new high density commercial residential… zone, property owners in Desert Mirage (zoned as R7 – high density residential) who are renting on a short term basis are in direct violation of the bylaw and can be fined.
Last summer it was unbelievable in here. It was just a zoo. This year we had more people move in and a bunch of us got together and decided to run for strata council so that at least there would be some full time residents on the council.rnPart of the problem, Merritt said, is that the strata still needs to get its bylaws finalized.
Attempts by the Osoyoos Times to contact the strata council president for his comments on the rental situation were un-successful.
But the town has a bylaw in place and we have to follow that, said Merritt.
Problems came to a head last week when one of the residents was allegedly threatened after she pointed out the pool rules to a renter.
Enough is enough. I don't know what else to do, Merritt said.
Merritt is also fed up with the residents having to clean up the mess after renters have left.
There's people coming every weekend and we're tired of chasing people around down at the pool. Every day I get up, look at the calendar and count the days left of summer.rnThe situation has led Merritt to consider selling his unit, and he said others he has spoken to are thinking the same thing.
Merritt believes, however, the rental problems at Desert Mirage have negatively affected property values.
The Town of Osoyoos has sent registered letters to owners who are illegally renting out their suites, but many of those have been returned unopened or have been simply ignored.
Merritt is also concerned to learn that the next phase will have two storeys of residences (20 units) above with commercial space at street level, suggesting the zoning for the new phase will fall under a different zoning.
Town Planner Alain Cunningham said the new phases of the Desert Mirage development will be zoned equivalent to the current phases.
There is no difference between the current and new phases of the development. The R7 and CD zones differ only in that there is commercial space permitted in a CD zone, Cunningham said.
Town of Osoyoos CAO Elsie Lemke said they are still trying to make sure they are following all the right steps as far as enforcement goes and will continue to send out warning letters to suspected bylaw offenders.
We are getting some compliance, but not as much as we would like, Lemke said, adding that staffing shortages at the town hall have hampered efforts to move faster on the issue.
Right now we're working with our lawyer in order to make sure we have a procedure in place so we will be able to successfully ticket and prosecute people contravening the bylaw. When we take our first case to court, we want it to be successful.rnLemke added that Osoyoos is the only community in B.C. to get a handle on a bylaw dealing with short-term rentals and that they are forging ahead to ensure the problems don't continue.
