Little city can do to prevent Airbnbs

There is nothing the City of Charlottetown can do right now to prevent accessory apartments from being used as Airbnb units, says the chairman of the city’s planning and heritage committees. Coun. Greg Rivard was responding to one question from the floor at a public meeting Monday night regarding proposed amendments to the zoning and development bylaw. At the June public meeting of council, Rivard said one of the amendments to the bylaw is to allow accessory apartments, a way of increasing density in the city without changing the landscape. It would allow people who have residential homes to have any accessory apartment, as-of-right, in their homes, up to 800 square feet with a maximum of two bedrooms. Rivard said it’s certainly not the city’s intention to increase the number of Airbnbs, and noted he asked planning staff if the city could add special wording to ensure against these accessory apartments being posted on the short-term vacation rental site. “There’s nothing we can do about the Airbnb right now because the province regulates it,” Rivard said. “We would have to work out something with the province together and come up with an agreement type of thing or a consensus. “But there’s nothing right now the city can do to regulate that because the province does.” Rivard said the intent of the zoning bylaw is to give residents options. “I don’t see people rushing out and putting accessory apartments on their house.” The bylaw review was initiated in response to the request to clarify regulations within the 500 Lot Area and to strengthen heritage preservation, where appropriate.