Municipality bordering Riding Mountain National Park postpones short-term rental decision

About 1,800 properties in Edmonton are listed on rental sites like Airbnb.

Finding alternative accommodation near Riding Mountain National Park could soon to be a little bit harder.

The RM of Harrison Park, which borders the national site, voted to limit short-term rentals (STR), like Airbnbs, in residential areas in December 2021, but a decision on how to proceed has now been pushed until February.

The decision was made during a council meeting Wednesday, to allow members more time to review an eight-page administrative report on an STR enforcement strategy.

The report was submitted to council shortly before the start of Wednesday’s meeting.

Council informed delegations representing concerned citizens at the meeting the document will not be made public as it is still in a draft stage, and not until council members have had the opportunity to review and have open council discussion on its contents and potential ammendments.

When asked if the document contained conditional use applications for STRs council confirmed it did, as well as for enforcement.

Council said no enforcement or regulation on STRs will take place before the motion returns to council in February. 

The issue stems from a council meeting on December 15, 2021, where councillors voted three-to-one in favour of beginning enforcement action on STRs that are not permitted under the municipality’s bylaws.

“The result was to ban them,” said RM of Harrison Park Coun. Craig Atkinson, who put forth the motion. “For now we’ve said no to short-term rentals in residential areas as they are a business.”

Atkinson told CTV News prior to the council meeting he was concerned over safety issues brought on by STRs and their disruptive nature in the community.

The municipality was also considering placing restrictions on STRs, like having someone on site who owns or runs the unit during the rental period.

“We’re well aware of all the ones that were here so it’s relatively easy to know where they are and we’d like to think people will follow our bylaws as they expect everybody else do with different bylaws,” said Atkinson.

Atkinson did say property owners have the right to plead their case to council on an individual basis if they want an exception.

CTV News has reached out to the municipality for comment but has not heard back.