CANMORE – Two homeowners are appealing a stop order issued by the Town of Canmore for allegedly owning and operating a tourist home.
According to the Town, both homeowners were operating a tourist home in violation of the Town’s land use bylaw, which states tourist homes are prohibited in residential districts unless they have a valid development permit.
Richard Williams, a land use enforcement officer, said both homeowners were renting their homes on VRBO, an online booking website for short-term vacation homes.
According to the website, a home at 1007 Olympic Drive was available for approximately $968 per night for a minimum of seven nights. The 3,600-square-foot home has five bedrooms, three bathrooms and can sleep up to 12 people.
It’s the second time the Town has issued a stop order against the property owners for operating a tourist home, however, the previous stop order was rescinded in 2010 by the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (SDAB) after a successful appeal by the property owners.
“That cease use order was issued under land use bylaw 09-99 where the tourist home was defined much differently,” said Williams.
According to the 2010 ruling, the board upheld the appeal because it could not determine if the home was operated in an “institutionalized commercial nature.”
While the stop order was lifted, Williams said that decision has no bearing on the stop order issued by the town on July 11 because the definition of a tourist home and the Town’s land use bylaw was significantly changed in 2012.
Thomas and Patricia Hjorleifson, owners of home, said they believed they were in compliance with the land use bylaw because the bylaw changed after they began renting their home in 2005 and they won an appeal to continue to operate their tourist home in 2010.
“We have never had any complaints from our neighbours and we believe that the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board’s decision from September 2010 is final and binding on all persons and parties as stated in the documents we received in 2010 stating the board’s decision,” said Patricia.
She said they believed the decision gave them special consideration to allow them to continue to occasionally rent their home when they are away. She also questioned why they were not informed when the Town changed the bylaw given the SDAB ruling in 2010, which allowed them to continue to operate.
“The employees in the planning department who dealt with our appeal in September 2010 were well aware that we continued to rent our home, and yet they took no further action when the bylaw changed on January 3, 2012,” said Patricia.
“If a change in the bylaw causes the decision that we received from the SDAB in September of 2010 to be invalid, why did the Town of Canmore planning department staff not notify us of this in January of 2012?”
The Town issued a second stop order on July 12 to the owners of 152 Carey after discovering they were operating a tourist home using VRBO.
According to the website, the owners were renting their tourist home for approximately $444 per night with a minimum stay of two to seven nights. The 4,500-square-foot property can accommodate a maximum of 10 guests at a time.
Daniel Garros, the owner of the property, said the building was built in 1999 under his professional corporation, with the objective to occasionally rent it to large families and for his own family’s personal use.
At the time of building, he said there were no bylaws restricting short-term rentals and, therefore, he believed they didn’t require any additional permits to operate a tourist home because it would have been grandfathered in.
“Through word of mouth we were aware that the new bylaw was created, but we were sure it would affect properties built after 2010,” said Garros. “We built in 1999 so we thought we were exempt from the bylaw change.”
Williams said the Town reviewed the building permit issued in 1998 and it did not allow the property to be used as a temporary place to stay or a vacation rental.
The SDAB will make its decision on both cases within 15 days from the Aug. 26 meeting.
