Council to consider new rules for rooming houses
The city’s new proposed set of rules for rooming houses are set to be debated by city councillors on Monday.
A bit more than a year ago, city staff had presented a set of rules that councillors didn’t adopt. Instead, they wanted to launch a public consultation and have staff return with any changes.
But the proposed rules look a lot like the ones that had come before council in 2016: property owners would need to get a business licence if they are renting four or more bedrooms in a house.
In Peterborough, many landlords rent multi-bedroom houses to students. The new rules are meant to allow fire inspectors occasional access into these homes to make sure they’re safe.
The business licences would cost $75 for a small rooming house (four bedrooms).
Any decision made by councillors on Monday will have to be ratified before city council. Citizens can speak to council before the final vote. The next city council meeting is June 26.
Also on council’s planning agenda Monday:
Former YMCA
City councillors will consider a request from the owner of the former YMCA building downtown to rezone a piece of adjacent property for parking.
Atria Development, the Toronto firm that wants to convert the YMCA into 147 high-end apartments, wants to buy a slice of property from Murray Street Baptist Church next door for tenant parking.
The church property would give them 23 parking spots. A new city staff report states that Atria would need a rezoning from council to carry out the plan.
The same report also states that Atria cannot create underground parking, as originally planned, so they’re looking for surface parking for their future tenants.
Atria Inc. is negotiating with staff about leasing the eastern half of the Brock St. municipal parking lot for apartment parking. That would give them about 57 more parking spots.
But that part of the plan is not expected to be settled on Monday; it may be debated as part of a site plan application that councillors are expecting to see soon.
Meanwhile, the staff report states that the developer also has the option of paying the city to allow tenants to use municipal parking spots. Don’t forget to check The
Examiner’s website on Monday for livestreaming, blogging and tweets from the meeting. It all begins at City Hall at 6:30 p.m.