On June 27th, the Owen Sound City Council voted to delay till September any decision about keeping non-owner-occupied Airbnbs out of residential neighbourhoods. It's going to be a long summer as neighbourhoods continue to be disrupted. For some, it's like living next door to a public swimming pool, and for others, a Frat house. STR’s present a growing problem. I just found out there's another one two doors down, on our quiet street.

The online petition is still active, and we're also still knocking on doors to get signatures. Nearly 200 people have signed the petition. 96% of the people we talked to were in favour of banning STRs in non-owner-occupied AirBnBs. If you weren't home and would like to sign the petition, it's easy to find online. Go to Change.org and search for Owen Sound Air BnBs. We would love to present Council in September with 1000 signatures and a room full of concerned citizens!

Also, to stress the urgency of the problem, please write to your council members. You can send the same email to each councillor, stating your concerns. These letters help them gauge how important this issue is to us. And it is! Commercial, money-making hotels do not belong in Residential neighbourhoods.
https://www.owensound.ca/en/city-hall/mayor-and-council.aspx

Thank you for speaking out and for supporting healthy neighbourhoods where families want to live in peace.

Louise Jarvis, Owen Sound