Queens councillors reject proposal for four Airbnbs on Port Medway property

Region of Queens councillors rejected a property owner’s application to build four short-term rentals on this property on Fostertown Road in Port Medway. (Rick Conrad)

Region of Queens councillors made probably one of their easiest decisions at their regular meeting on Tuesday.

They rejected a bid to build an Airbnb that almost nobody wanted in their community.

Hans-Martin Klein, the owner of a vacant three-acre piece of land on Fostertown Road in Port Medway, wanted to build a single-family house for himself and four more single units to operate as seasonal rentals.

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Residents signed a petition against it, the region’s planning advisory committee recommended that council deny it and even the region’s planning staff said it should be rejected.

Under the municipality’s land use bylaw, fixed-roof overnight accommodations are not allowed in that part of the small village. It would require a change to the region’s land use bylaw to rezone the area.

Shelly Stevens is a Port Medway resident, who lives next door to the property.

“This area is made up of full-time residents who value safety, privacy and a quiet rural environment. Approving this rezoning would fundamentally alter the character of our community and reduce its liveability.”

Stevens told councillors that the road to the property is narrow, so it couldn’t accommodate increased traffic safely. She said the property owner’s proposal was also light on specifics.

“There’s no information on building size or sizes or layouts. There doesn’t appear to be any plan for garbage or recycling, or parking solutions, and no information on how many people the structures would accommodate.”

In addition to the petition, councillors said they also received a number of emails from residents opposed to it.

Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton, who is a member of the planning advisory committee, said she was against the proposed development, especially since the region is planning a review of its land use bylaw and regulations around AirBnBs.

“There have been a lot of concerns raised about short-term rentals and how it affects our housing stock … this has been really problematic in Queens County. 
And so, we’re going to be looking at best practices to regulate those, where we want to encourage those, where we may not. And so that will have a really comprehensive review. So it didn’t make sense to entertain something like this.”

District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault’s area includes Port Medway. She said the development would not fit with the location and characteristics of the small fishing village.

“As we have seen, many things such as the width of the road, the stone walls, the ditches, the flooding. There’s just so many points that stick out to deny this proposal.”

Councillors voted in December to hire an outside consultant to overhaul parts of its land use rules. One of those areas was the regulation of short-term rentals.

The consultant hasn’t been chosen yet, but the last time the region reviewed its land use bylaw and planning rules about eight years ago, it was expected to take about 18 months.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com