City council is ready to fight (respectfully?) the province over Airbnb regulations

And electronic payments are coming to the bus

It was council night last night and a few things worth mentioning. I’m limiting myself to the first 90 minutes because I’m trying to strike a work-life balance and while this newsletter isn’t work, in the sense that I do it in my spare time and don’t get paid, it’s also not entirely “balance.” I’ll grab any other significant items in future newsletters.

‘Great start’ to construction schedule

First up on the agenda was the building permit stats which were described as a “great start to 2024”:

• Six (6) new single-family dwelling ($2,972,020.00)

• Eight (8) commercial building alterations ($2,080,360.25);

• Two (2) industrial alterations ($4,693,626.92); and

• Two (2) new industrial buildings ($2,255,824.00).

As well as approval of:

• DP100861 – 1177 Foothills Blvd. – Multiple Residential Form and Character Development Permit for the construction of a six (6) storey, 91-unit housing apartment.

One thing I will add to this converation is yesterday the Federation of Canadian Municipalities spoke up about the cost to cities of building new homes:

Municipalities have been warning that their communities can't build enough homes to match population growth without more money for things like water infrastructure and roads.

The federation estimates every new home built requires $107,000 in infrastructure, on average.

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Electronic fare collection for transit

B.C. Transit is joining the 21st century and rolling out a way to pay for busses that doesn’t rely on having exact change:

If you’ve used transit cards in any big city in the world, you’re familiar with what’s being offered: an app and optional card, which you attach to a payment system, and can top up, and use tap to get on/off the bus. Cash will still be accepted.

I checked, the app isn’t available yet. B.C. Transit is talking to UNBC and CNC about how this will incorporate with the transit pass that comes with tuition fees.

Also, thank goodness, it’s at least on the roadmap that you will be able to skip the UMO card/account altogether and just pay with your credit card. This is fairly baseline stuff for transit systems these days — I recently was greeted by a teenager who was asking, legitimately, if anyone had change so they could get on the bus home and nobody had any because who does?

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The mayor’s first monthly expense report is a big zero

As promised, Simon Yu has started submitting monthly expense reports which also double as something of an “activity update.” Except!

Seems like he was serious about getting his expenses under control.

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Up in the Airbnb

As first reported by the Citizen, for all the talk about whether Prince George should or shouldn’t opt out of the province’s new short-term rental regulations (which, among other things, dictate that you can only rent out rooms/outbuildings in a house you live in and post it to Airbnb rather than, say, buy up several houses and turn them into short-term rentals), it turns out it’s not even an option: In order to opt out, cities need to have a vacancy rate of three per cent or more for at least two years in a row, based on the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Bad news for those in Prince George who were hoping to opt out:

Council response:

Kyle Sampson:

• It’s an arbitrary number. Why has the province chosen this number, they haven’t really shown their work? Why not a two year average? “Frankly, your worship, this is just another example to me of the provincial government stepping into our lane.” Puts forward a motion to opt out despite not meeting the criteria —- motion seconded by Councillor Brian Skakun.

Brian Skakun:

• “I totally agree with councillor Sampson.” Says he doesn’t even believe the CMHC numbers — he got emails from two real estate management companies in town who told him that they have more vacancies and he would like the province to prove to the city that its vacancy rate is lower than these real estate companies have told him.

• Skakun also says he believes people staying in town for things like hospice and medical treatment want to be in Airbnbs.

• Also wonders what would happen if the city just decided not to track or enforce the provincial rules.

• Ends by again saying it’s time to go ahead and push back against the province.

Cori Ramsay

• Actually understands the data — demonstrates how to delve into it to see how much vacancy there is in single-family homes, apartments, etc.

• Points out that there is a lack of proper data for three+ bedroom homes and row houses, surmising because it’s not statistically relevant given the low number.

• To that end, she suggests amending the motion proposed by Sampson to point out that there is a lack of reliable data indicating the true vacancy rate in the city.

• She also did her homework on how many Airbnb listings there are in the city now, versus how many there were several years ago, and points out there hasn’t been that much growth, and thinks that should also be presented to the province.

• Also argues in favour of opting out based on how many municipalities in the north have said they rely on Prince George as a place to stay for medical care.

Ron Polillo

• Agrees with Ramsay.

• Says this is a one size fits all policy.

• Says he and other councillors have heard from the community that people want short-term rentals.

Tim Bennett says he appreciates the viewpoints of everyone he’s heard from, on both sides of the debate. As someone with a large family that travels for work, he understands the role that Airbnbs play in accomodating people. But he also says he’s worried council has spent a lot of time talking about how to protect the ability of Airbnb owners to carry on, but not as much time about how they will address the fact that vacancy rates are as low as they are — and what they can do to actually address that underlying problem. “While I support the [motion].. I am concerned that we’re not doing enough as a council to meet the housing needs of our community.”

Simon Yu says “we’re not trying to pick a fight” with the province (which is somewhat counter to the tone from Sampson and Skakun). Garth Frizzell says he gets that the province is trying to solve a problem but says the solution is geared toward southern communities and points out the city has for a decade-plus been very construction friendly, approving all manner of new builds. Susan Scott says “I am here to pick a fight” because it’s wrong to have a one-sized fits-all solution for the whole province. Sampson agrees.

The motion is passed unanimously.

To this, I will add only two things:

1. Throughout this debate, I have heard multiple references to the idea that doctors, nurses and other medical professionals rely on Airbnbs when they come to town. Who haven’t I heard this from? Doctors, nurses and other medical professionals — or Northern Health. I would be somewhat surprised if Northern Health is relying on Airnbnbs for accomodations, though that doesn’t mean there aren’t individuals who are booking it on their own.

2. I haven’t seen that many issues where there’s this much of a schism between what people are saying online/in converstations I hear and what council is hearing. Almost universally, people reacting to these stories in places like the Citizen comments and Reddit are glad that the city can’t opt out — and yet council has indicated they believe the majority viewpoint is that the city should opt out. I have theories about why this is (people in positions of economic power and how they can communicate) but don’t know if they’re valid.

Taxing daycares operating inside schools

Council passed a motion to start lobbying for there to be ways for cities to collect revenue from childcare operations inside schools. The gist of it is that if a childcare centre is set up in most places, they pay city taxes but if they are in a school, which they increasingly are, they don’t. It’s less about trying to tax childcare spaces, council says, and more establishing fairness among like businesses.

Council votes against giving itself a legal advice fund

As previously reported, “Prince George city council is looking at a policy where each council member could claim expenditures of up to $5,000 per calendar year to retain independent legal counsel for advice.”

The discussion, largely, was “no thanks.” Councillor Ramsay kicked things off saying individual legal expenses are an individual expense and if council feels that they aren’t currently being paid enough to cover reasonable personal expenses, then that discussion should be add, but not by creating individual funds. Coun. Frizzell agreed, and added that given the amount would be $45,000 a year total, there’s a lot of other places it could be spent rather than on councillors. Coun. Sampson agreed, though he said there is no amount of money he would support.

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Quick news:

• Downtown Safety Unit seizes weapons as they combat ‘increase in violent crime within the City’.

• One person arrested after reports of shot fired downtown, a couple blocks where there was a homicide last week.

• Building materials and compostable organics make up half of the overall garbage stream in the city according to a new regional district report.

• Here are the winners of the Jeanne Clarke Awards, which recognize authors of books about local history.

• New snow creating 'very dangerous' avalanche conditions in B.C. backcountry.

• UNBC Musicals returns to the stage with Cry-Baby the Musical.

• The search for the recipe for Mr. Jake’s potato salad.

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