The District of North Vancouver will consider a new approach for managing parking compliance in short-term rental (STR) business licence applications. The issue will be discussed at a council meeting on Monday, November 17, at 7 p.m.
The proposal, outlined in a staff report dated November 3, recommends a consistent process for reviewing 109 pending applications, many of which involve long-standing parking deficiencies.
According to the report by community planner Jon Maselli, the zoning bylaw requires one off-street parking space for each STR accommodation. While 361 of the 470 applications submitted since the STR framework was adopted earlier this year have already been approved and registered provincially, about 70 remaining applications do not meet current parking standards because of pre-existing site conditions.
The proposed policy separates applications into two groups: properties with at least one off-street parking space may be licensed if the applicant provides a parking plan that reserves one space for STR use. This applies to roughly 60 applications.
For the smaller group of about 10 properties with no off-street parking, staff recommend a case-by-case assessment to determine whether a boulevard parking space on District-owned land can safely serve as the required stall. In these cases, applicants would need to enter into a parking licence agreement and pay a monthly fee of $70 for use of the public space.
Staff noted that requiring all properties to meet the zoning bylaw’s full base parking requirements would be impractical and could result in neighbourhood impacts, such as tree removal, increased paving, or changes to established streetscapes. Shared parking principles also reduce the need for additional parking when hosts rent their homes while away, the report notes.
Other approaches, including strict bylaw enforcement, removing STR parking requirements entirely, and relying on individual development variance permits, were evaluated but are not being recommended.
If the council endorses the proposed method on November 17, staff will implement it immediately. No bylaw amendments are required. Staff would monitor the process and report back with any further recommendations.
Wondering why;
1) Suites in homes: this rule doesn’t seem to be enforced.
2) developers get away with too few parking stalls for residents & guests.
Both these issues impact public parking far more than STR guests, many of whom don’t have vehicle.