The Town of Brome Lake has officially decided not to go ahead with a referendum for Bylaw 596-12, an attempt to regulate short-term rentals in the municipality, after gathering almost 380 signatures against the bylaw at a registry held at the end of May.

Instead, they are forming a committee made up of Brome Lake citizens who are for and against the bylaw, some of the town’s staff, and elected officials, who will work together to come to a consensus and present its recommended changes to the bylaw to town council. Richard Burcombe, mayor of Brome Lake, said that he hopes the process will be completed before March 2023. 

“One, it costs a lot for the referendum. Second, of course there would be a lot of work on the personnel at town hall. Taking those things into consideration, and also the fact that there were 373 signatures that were against it, we decided not to go to a referendum for those reasons,” explained Burcombe. 

Going forward with a citizens committee, Burcombe said that two spots on the committee will be specifically reserved for Lee Patterson, president of the Urban Planning Advisory Committee, and Owen Falquero, town clerk and lawyer for the town. 

“His (Falquero) expertise in that field would have to be there. (…) That will probably be done at the beginning of September. People have already started sending in their names,” he said. 

While Burcombe isn’t certain yet as to how people will be appointed, he said the committee will be made up of about 12 people maximum. 

“We are going to look at that for the next two months and then we will go from there. I’m not sure, because we might work on the aspect of having two bylaws. One for principal residences and one for secondary residences,” noted Burcombe. 

Burcombe said that the focus however, remains on secondary residences that aren’t particular about who they rent out to.  

“Principal residences, there’s not many people who rent out their principal residence for 31 days. Most of them are four months during the winter. That works out very well because you get to meet the people first and then you can trust them because you have a lot of personal belongings. Secondary residences, they are equipped very minimal, so there’s not much that they can walk away with,” he mentioned. 

According to Burcombe, concerns with Bylaw 596-12 included the 1,500 square feet minimum criteria and the perceived lack of control over short-term rentals in the municipality. 

“They didn’t realize that the town gives out the permit, the town controls the complaints. If there are more than two, we withdraw the complaint, and following that we advise Airbnb and the Centre de transfert d'entreprise du Québec (CTEQ) and they withdraw their permit so that they can’t advertise it. So, the control would have been good,” he explained. 

Burcombe said that he hopes the committee will be able to come to a consensus to implement a new bylaw next year. 

“We would like it done by March 23 for both (primary and secondary) because then the control of principal residences will be the government’s law, but they’ve given municipalities to come up with their own up until March 23 of next year,” he noted.

Those interested in being a part of the committee for Bylaw 596-12 concerning short-term rentals can send an email to greffe@lacbrome.ca 

Listen to the full interview below: