Friday, May 19, 2017

War On Vacation Rentals Heats Up !!

https://tofino.civicweb.net/filepro/document/65457/2017-05-24%20Special%20Council%20Agenda.pdf?widget=true

51 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice!!!
I'd only heard rumours that this was all going on behind the scenes. Great to see something being done about it finally. Hopefully council will stand their ground and support bylaw's decision. Town will be a complete free-for-all if they don't.
I can't imagine the legal costs (for both parties).

Anonymous said...

I like council's new war in long term housing . The Shore is too good for locals. They should be forced into Pooles or Crabapple ghetto.Tourists rule this shithole

Anonymous said...

Bravo to council and staff. This is no doubt only a beginning, it may get messy, but a real concerted effort will eventually turn the tide The housing stock of Tofino needs to be secured if we are to remain a community in any real sense of the word.

The current rules allow resident owners plenty of opportunity to engage in the tourist trade legally, and still provide for some housing....Eventually will get the "wall" and it will continue to have a "big beautiful door, so people can come in "legally"".

Anonymous said...

`7:14am Tourists rule this shithole" Love this comment

Just read some of the letters to council and their rationale for letting the Shore building go nightly stays....

Good for the economy
Good for Tourism
Good for the building

If the shore goes nightly,zoning doesn't matter, nothing matters, just ask council either for a temporary or write some letters

The time wasted in not being able to say no..... thousands of dollars..... taxpayer dollars

Anonymous said...

Without tourists, there would be no town.
I think everyone will soon realize if there are no places for tourists to stay, they will stop coming to Tofino.
Good luck with that

Anonymous said...

Without tourists there will be no town. Once all the nightly rentals are closed tourists will be without accommodations and will simply find another place to vacation. Be careful what you wish for.....

Anonymous said...

It is a belief that we need tourists

Anonymous said...

Some local live long term in the Shore.They will be kicked out if nightly rentals are allowed.Thanks Greg.Thanks Josie.Progressive my ass

Anonymous said...

Lets look after the people who live here now rather than those that may choose to retire here if they make enough money off their vacation rentals.

Anonymous said...

If I read that correctly, (and yes, I read the whole thing) it seems that [they] are telling legal clients not to get licences ONLY to support their apparent legal argument that only the management company needs a licence. So what happens when those legal properties start getting fines for not having licences - because their management company told them not to?
Man, this is messy.

Anonymous said...

9:12 is so correct. Shut them all down.

Anonymous said...


9:34PM

Messy and very expensive... wonder if John Alexander is going to be at the meeting.... tax payers money going down the drain....

Anonymous said...

May 19, 6:56
Are you saying we don't need tourists? What is our major industry? Are the residents whale watching and kayak renting, hiking to Meares and Lone Cone? When was the last time you took an airplane tour of the sound?
Of course we need tourists. We also need affordable housing. These things don't have to be mutually exclusive.
The Shore has never been affordable, so let's get over that and figure out how to keep the tourists coming and house ourselves.

Anonymous said...

What's "going down the drain" is housing if we don't head off this wanton abuse of our bylaws. It is unfortunate, people show absolutely no respect for this community and that is what is costing us.

Anonymous said...

I liked the part where it said "Supreme Court". That oughta be a good investment of the taxpayers dollars! Fuc**n' foolishness.

Anonymous said...

new season - same shit
Offshore vehicles park all day where they’re not supposed to. Bylaw is nowhere to be seen. Josie tweets its all good.

Today my guest gave up after circling town for 20minutes and went to Long Beach.
They’ll be gift shopping in Victoria tomorrow instead.

Anonymous said...

Yep 7:46..... Like that black/white/grey camper that's been parked in front of the Catholic Church for 3 weeks, next to the "4 hrs max, No Campers" sign.

Anonymous said...

Parking isn't a problem. Simply stop anywhere in the street you like, and put on your 4 way flashers.

Anonymous said...

Enforcing these bylaws would not have been such a problem if councils had taken their responsibilities seriously over the years. Now it is a major problem, with the organized resistance we see on these pages and as evidenced in the article. Unfortunately enforcement now comes at a price for all.....but it's got to be done.

Anonymous said...

@9:25
One company/individual trying to throw their weight around isn't "organized resistance".
It's called being a bully and it needs to stop.
(and I'm not so naive to think that there aren't other offenders out there- some are just blatantly worse than others)

Anonymous said...

Busting illegal vacation rentals is as easy as shooting a fish.In or out of a barrel.

Anonymous said...

when it was recognized that normal homes in town were being converted from B&Bs or just homes to vacation rentals tofino Council of the day thought that business licensing was the solution.
as anyone can see it wasn't the solution especially since vacation rentals became investment vehicles with absolutely no commitments or contribution to the community besides taxes and a nice place to stay for more tourists.
it's no accident that numerous out-of-town investors plunk their money down for a vacation rental house which will most likely pay for itself in 10 years based on projected earnings.
when this became the general role for vacation rentals money trumps everything: bylaws, morals, OCP objectives, neighbours, neighbourhoods and whatever else stands in the way of making more money.
it's somewhat of an accident that tourism tofino virtually obliterated the concept of an OCP touting more and more tourists. and where are more and more tourists going to stay? in more and more vacation rentals.
having our mayor standing in Main Street congratulating ourselves on how the beautification of Main Street really helped the businesses here makes one ask: how? as if there wasn't a street there before and now there is.
to me that's tourism tofino propaganda intended to congratulate themselves for blowing a bunch of money making the street into a kitschy hipster parking mess/ obstacle course.
so when we have a council that has bought into the religion of tourist money any values reflected in the community are an obstacle to the practice of the money religion.
sure... we have achieved the goal of becoming a tourist destination resort.. But somebody forgot that we did have an official community plan that was intended to be followed in regard to preserving and respecting community values besides money.

as an aside ucluelet faced the same problem at the same time but chose to regulate the VR's with zoning. they do not seem to have the same out-of-control situation that we have.

money is God now.

Anonymous said...

It is a sad reality that although these illegal VR's bring visitors to Tofino I would venture to say the town has traded its soul for a few beads.
Our soul has gone.
I don't know if I want to stay here any more.
The sad part is that I will have no control over what the purchaser will do with my place.
If I sell I know I will just be adding to the problem as the new owner will of course swear on a stack of bibles that they won't turn the place into another VR but you know they will.
As 4:59 said so well, Tourism Tofino is the source of all the town's problems aided and abetted by town councillors who don't put the residents needs in front of the wants of the people making money.

Anonymous said...

The headline article shows how deep and corrupt this VR activity has become. There is no respect for anything in this business. Some of the pitch artists supporting illegal VR's on this blog site are blowing bull shit at us. They know it, but do not care. It is all just a game of lies for them, with money as the prize if they can get away with it. They will destroy this town and will not care.

The best that can be said of the people who have been running this town for so long, is that they are stupid. A more realistic assessment is that some of them are corrupt. Turn the other way. Wouldn't want to enforce a critical bylaw for fear they might lose a few votes. Yet they will talk and talk about housing.....what a disgrace.....The housing base of Tofino has been gutted on their watch

They are hollow people, made of straw.

Anonymous said...

Some nice google reviews here-

https://www.google.ca/#q=tofino+vacation+rentals&lrd=0x5489972df33e54bf:0x95a076bad2c8a275,1,&spf=1495571079965

Anonymous said...

Its encouraging to see council following through on their pledge. Those who have been operating illegal vacation rentals don't have a leg to stand on and it will only take one legal challenge to show that. Here's hoping they stand their ground!

Anonymous said...

Anyone know what happened at the meeting today?

Anonymous said...

I was at the meeting today. I commend Council's agreement to uphold bylaw's decision not to renew the business licence. They agreed, however, to issue a licence, on the condition that TVR only manage/advertise/operate legal (licenced) properties.
It was pretty clear that TVR was only out to protect themselves. Their legal council - repeatedly throughout the hearing- stated that it was not the company's fault, and suggested that city council "go get them" (referring to the un-licenced rentals managed by the company).

Anonymous said...

If you want to have resident housing in this town, go to the link at the top to the 99 pages of documentation. There go to pages 13 and 14 of the 99 pages and you will find a list of the non-complying properties as of April 1th. Print it off. Watch the ones near you and report them to bylaws if they continue to operate. Especially if you know they cannot possibly be legally operated and you see a TVR or other cleaning company visiting the property.

Anonymous said...

TVR still advertises illegal units!

Anonymous said...


Municipal tickets are not high enough to stop things I guess.
https://tofino.civicweb.net/document/1426/1088%20Municipal%20Ticket%20Information%20System%20Bylaw%20CON.pdf?handle=60C4E59BF37340B7B1A91D18CC809733

Anonymous said...

Of course they're still going. I don't think anyone is surprised by that (at least I'm not). It's going to take something much more serious than council's decision to slow them down.

Anonymous said...

Of course TVR still advertises illegal suites. Likely suffering from a social pathology known as self interest derangement syndrome. "Screw or be screwed". "Screw em' all".
Anti social behaviour, likely indications of a deeper psychosis. Living in his own reality. Probably dangerous.

Anonymous said...

Ecolodge still operating so why would anyone else obey zoning or bylaws ?

Anonymous said...

Game of chicken going on. Few respect council and are counting on council's will being short lived. The community needs them to be strong. We cannot afford to lose this fight. As much as council may feel they are coming down on VR's they need to up their game to another level, and whack every violation, now, or this thing will slip through their grasp like dry sand.

The entire credibility of local government is at stake. How can they expect to fine, tax, restrict, permit etc., in other areas of their authority if they fail this test. Citizens demand and expect equality before the law. No class of people can place themselves above the law without bringing the whole system into disrespect.

Anonymous said...

Saw the cleaner with car full of laundry exit Gold's cottage this afternoon. It cannot possibly operate legally, not having anyone on site.

Anonymous said...

Don't let Councillors get away with mealy mouth comments. Like, when asked when are you going to enforce your bylaws a councillors says "well we all have to get along". Don't let them get away with this garbage. These particular bylaws, to do with VR's, are critical, and need to be enforced across the board. These bylaws have determined "How" we are going to get along. Now do it.

Anonymous said...

Seems to be lots of support here for council's decision. I have personally spoken to 3 of them in the last couple days. I urge everyone to do the same. They are elected officials, and represent us- the citizens. Public feedback on their decision is CRITICAL to them holding their ground.

Anonymous said...

Properties that were operating before 2005 and before Tofino enacted any kind of VR bylaw may have legal non conforming use rights..... Properties that started
operating illegally after 2005 bylaw do not.What happened to the battle against AirB&B and Vrbo? They don't even need a local license so why target a local company who is providing a proper property management service and employing local people...?

Anonymous said...

@7:29 - Your ignorance is showing again.:)
You're spewing half-truths and being a troll

Anonymous said...

7:29 Before 2005, activities now referred to as Vacation Rental were illegal in all residential zones. The allowed uses in those zones were clearly defined by bylaw. Only allowed uses as specified in the bylaw are allowed.

"Grandfathering" or more technically being a "legally nonconforming use" can only apply to properties that were previously legally allowed a particular use, as specified by bylaw. You cannot loose what you never had.

Anonymous said...

If there are any councillors who frequent this blog site, I hope they realize they have broad support to crack down on this VR activity and regain control over our community.

Anonymous said...

7:29 Legally non conforming can apply only to properties where the uses were at one time legal. Vacation rentals were never legally provided for uses prior to the 2005 ammendments. That goes back to the first Tofino Zoning bylaws of the 1970's. Uses that are permitted have to be specified in the bylaw If it was never zoned for a "Vacation Rental" use it can not now be considered a legally nonconforming use. It would simply be illegal.

Also, some people think they can "grandfather" all kinds of things where the by law was not enforced. However a lack of enforcement does not somehow make them legal.

Anonymous said...

Well 12:08 you seem to be a bit of a legal beagle. So what about a home exchange without an on site resident?

Anonymous said...

Illegal if under 30 day term

Anonymous said...

Oh good, I thought this thread was going to fizzle like the (proactive) bylaw enforcement.
Happy to see there's still some life left in it...
Hope there is for bylaw too, now that they know they have the [unanimous] support of council.

Anonymous said...

if your are a big offender of the VR stuff just run for mayor. if you get elected all is good.
simple.

Anonymous said...

Westerly Article
http://www.westerlynews.ca/news/tofino-council-upholds-license-refusal-for-tofino-vacation-rentals/

Anonymous said...

Grice for Mayor!!!

Ralph Tieleman said...

@9:50 Perhaps any illegal Vacation Rentals should simply declare themselves as Student Dormitories.Thereby exempting themselves from any scrutiny and lowering their property assessment and tax rate.This has proven to be wildly successful in Tofino.

Anonymous said...

fine anyone who doesn't run a vacation rental, air b&b, b&b, or house swap.
thats the problem.
and while were at it i think its about time the raptors, wolves, dogs, felines, orcas, and all those other killers learned to be vegetarians.
its not right and they just need to learn that meat eating is killing the planet.