Image: Google Maps
Dale Boyd
Times-Chronicle
An application for a rural Osoyoos home to operate as a vacation rental was denied by the regional district Thursday — making it the first vacation rental to be denied by the board.
The house which had been operating as an Airbnb-style rental last summer drew over 10 letters from neighbours complaining about excessive noise and other issues, but the property manager denied the claims at the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen’s (RDOS) July 2 meeting.
“This has been the only property we’ve had any kind of problems with, and it has been an over-the-top problem. I believe it was inspired by a couple of neighbours. There was a not-in-my-backyard mentality,” said John Redenbach, who manages 20 properties with his wife including the 3829 37th St. home. “They drummed up a lot of business on the street to fight this, but I know how it has been run and who’s there. Especially this summer there will be almost no issues.”
Redenbach said he lives in Osoyoos and is on the property on a regular basis, and the property is usually occupied by snowbirds in the off-season.
“The claims that have come in are so outlandish it would prompt a police call. There’s no evidence of any of this activity. You think there would be a picture or video or a police report at least, but there is none of these things” Redenbach said. “I can understand not wanting an Airbnb in your neighbourhood, but there’s an Airbnb in my neighbourhood that I live in. There’s Airbnbs in almost everybody’s neighbourhood in Osoyoos.”
He added the clients he was expecting this summer were almost all families and are vetted by himself and his wife.
“We run a really tight shop, my wife and I. We really make sure we do a good job. When I comment on the customers that are coming, I know what kind of customers are coming. They’re driving Lexus’ and BMWs and they are good people. They are not here to cause problems. They are here to put money into the community and to go back home,” said Redenbach.
Director of Area A (rural Osoyoos), Mark Pendergraft, introduced the alternate motion to deny the temporary use permit Thursday citing the previous year of operation as a vacation rental and the complaints from the community.
“It has operated already for a year and in spite of what the manager is saying, (that) there hasn’t been any legitimate complaints, there has been. There has been at least two that I know of that came to the regional district and that’s why this actually has an application before us. It was part of the enforcement that spurned the application,” Pendergraft said. “And aside from that I’m not sure that the location is the most appropriate for a vacation rental.”
Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff agreed with Pendergraft, noting long-term renting is needed in Osoyoos.
“We always have a lot of need for families to rent homes and this one would have been a perfect opportunity for a family with children to come and rent rather than have people come in and out with all their vehicles all the time. I don’t see this as a good situation going forward in the summertime considering that for the last couple of months there have also been several problems we’ve been made aware of,” McKortoff said.
RDOS board chair Karla Kozakevich said the property marks the first by the RDOS board to be rejected for the vacation rental temporary use permit.
“The issue here for me is that it would be hard to enforce in that there is no noise bylaw (in Area A). So a TUP for a vacation rental works really well when it’s hand-in-hand with a noise control bylaw for enforcement purposes,” Kozakevich said.
The applicants can reapply for the permit in one year, or have the year-long waiting period waived if there was a reason to do so, like making recommended improvements like a wall screening the pool area from neighbours properties, RDOS staff said.
