Erikson Sheena and Amanda Blackwell, both from Merritt, and Osoyoos’s Ken Blackwell get a quick lesson in Sea-Doo safety from Lee McLeod, from Desert Dreams Rentals. The watercraft rental company has tried to get a business licence from the Town of Osoyoos, but the Town has no proper zoning category in which to classify the business. Photo by Laurena Weninger - For Larger image, click on photo
OSOYOOS TIMES-September 9, 2009
By Laurena Weninger – Osoyoos Times
“It’s almost a matter of making honest people do dishonest things because they don’t have a choice,” said Donna Byers, from Desert Dream Rentals.
Byers is frustrated because she and her partner, Lee McLeod, have been trying to get a business licence from the Town of Osoyoos so they can legally operate their business of renting out personal watercraft.
They were turned down.
And then they were ticketed by bylaw enforcement officers in August for operating without a licence.
Earlier this summer, Byers and McLeod appeared in front of council to appeal Town staff’s decision to deny the pair a business licence.
They have four Sea-Doos they rent out – for $85 an hour – and just need to get their paperwork in order with the Town.
Osoyoos’s chief administrative officer, Barry Romanko, said the business was turned down for a licence because they didn’t have an acceptable place out of which to do business.
At the time, Byers and McLeod wanted to operate out of their home and use the public beach access to deliver the watercraft to the renters.
“We weren’t going to allow them to run a personal watercraft business as a home-based business,” Romanko said.
The only zoning that could currently apply to this situation is commercial marina, but waterfront access is required in order to apply the zoning.
“Town is in a situation where we don’t really have a zone for (this) type of activity,” Romanko said.
Desert Dream Rentals isn’t the only such business operating illegally on the lake.
There are at least two others who also don’t have the proper licensing and operate anyway.
Byers said they now park their four machines offshore, near the Village on the Lake. When a customer calls, they do the paperwork and the money exchange at a mutual public meeting location.
Then, they give the key, lifejacket and instruction to the renter, who has to then go out through a small public access trail and retrieve the Sea-Doo from where it is moored. There is someone from the company on the lake on an extra unit, to train and monitor the use of the machines, Byers said.
It’s not a professional way to do business and Byers said she isn’t happy with the lack of support from the Town.
She paid the $100 fine that came with the ticket, but under protest.
Romanko said they are working to come up with a solution.
“We’re going to try and fix this,” he said, explaining that Town staff have been looking at ways to update zoning bylaws to cover this sort of activity.
Options could include allowing applicants to lease a portion of the public beach, to make an agreement with an existing business that operates as a marina, or some other yet-unconsidered possibility.
Whatever the final option looks like, Romanko said it now seems essential.
“This business is going to be a part of our community.”
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