On Monday, Kelowna City council will be hearing a request from a property owner for reconsideration of a business licence for their so-called boarding house on Bernard Avenue.
According to city staff, the owner of 911 Bernard Ave. was issued a business licence to operate a rooming house from 2010 when he purchased the property until the end of 2021.
When the city adopted an updated zoning bylaw in September 2022, the property was rezoned to MF2 and “boarding or lodging houses” were no longer allowed, except as a lawful non-conforming use, says a staff report.
The property owner did not renew a business licence for 2022.
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As a result, city bylaw staff began investigating and taking enforcement steps to determine if the business was still operating without a licence.
“Through these investigations discovered that each of the boarding units had been unlawfully converted into individual apartments with their own kitchens, without building permits,” says a report prepared by Dean Strachan, the city’s community planning and development manager.
“It was also determined that the owner had been using the units for short-term rentals since 2010, contrary to the terms of the business licence which only allowed a boarding or lodging house use.”
Under the city’s bylaw, sleeping units in boarding or lodging houses cannot have kitchens and short-term rentals are not permitted in these forms of housing.
According to Strachan’s report, the owner continues to advertise and operate nightly rental business on the property without a business licence and without approved non-conforming status, which has led to bylaw enforcement.
As a result of bylaw tickets, the wonder made a new application for a business licence in December 2022, which was denied because the Rooming House, Private businesses is not permitted in the MF2 – Townhouse zone.
The owner applied again in spring 2023 and was denied for the same reasons.
“Staff have attempted to work with the property owner for two years to bring the use of the property into conformance with the Zoning Bylaw,” the report says.
“To date the owner has rejected the staff recommendations and instead continues to unlawfully use the property for a short-term rental business with no licence.”
Strachan says unless and until the owner pursues and completes the necessary permitting steps, no business licence can be properly issued.
Kelowna council will once again visit this application on Monday afternoon.
