It wasn't a raid but the police did shut down the Monster Mansion on Lakeshore at Goodram when they were getting disturbing behaviour reports.

News 100 redBy Pepper Parr

November 4th, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Change only happens instantly on television.

The people in the Goodram – Lakeshore Road community are putting up with noise that would drive anyone bonkers – this at 2 am.

They have been asking for help for more than 18 months.

Lakeshore mega 4319 A view

The Monster Mansion that is being rented out via Air BnB was finally shut down by police – albeit well after midnight..

The efforts of their member of Council and a reach out to the police to step in has shut down the Air BnB operation that was the cause of all the concern.

Ward 4 Shawna Stolte said she has been pushing hard for relief for the residents in the area in regard to the troublesome AirBnB.
Saturday night was another big party with the police intervening multiple times and shutting the place down by 2am.

Councillor Stolte explains that: “The immensely frustrating challenge is that we have no jurisdiction to shut them down or enforce ceasing to operate as an AirBnB as we have no bylaw that speaks to this yet.

One option may have been to try to enact an immediate ban on all Short Term Accommodations in Burlington in order to catch this one…but that would have unfairly impacted the 160 other AirBnB’s in the city who are abiding by the rules and offering a great service.

Licensing will take a bit of time, it is being implemented by the Planning Department, who are so “under water” with the dramatically shortened timelines due to Bill 108 as well as the Official Plan and the Interim Control ByLaw timelines. Councillor Stolte said she “could have demanded something sooner but I know we would have ended up with an incomplete, not well thought out licensing bylaw.

“The property in question never would be granted a license to operate as they are anyhow…this situation is a matter of them using the guise of AirBnB to skirt the zoning bylaw and rent out a residential property as a commercial event venue.

“The fastest way to shut down this property is to take the legal approach re: residential zoning infraction which is what has been happening these last 6-8 weeks. We are well into this process and should see an impact any day now.

Shawna quiet

Shawna Stolte: Rookie Councillor who took on a defeated a double decade incumbent is proving to be very effective.

The Gazette had asked why the MAT (Municipal Accommodation Tax), was being considered at this time; she explained that “this is a completely separate issue that coincidentally just happens to include Short Term Accommodations. It is being spearheaded by the City Managers Office, not the Planning Dept. “Believe me, if I thought for one second that the Planning Department was taking time to implement the MAT instead of dealing with the Licensing Bylaw, well let me leave it at that.” She added that “I am holding the Planning Department’s feet to the fire as much as I can without running the risk of damaging things for a department that is struggling with the workload.

“The ultimate result is to get this AirBnB shut down by whatever means possible. As of Friday the advertisement for the offending property is gone from the AirBnB website. I had had contact with the AirBnB company as had a number of residents. Now AirBnB has banned all “party houses” after the shooting last week at a “party house” in California.

The residents may now finally have some peace and quiet on their street. Give the Councillor a kudos on this one.

Related news story:

City Council vows to take action

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4 comments to It wasn’t a raid but the police did shut down the Monster Mansion on Lakeshore at Goodram when they were getting disturbing behaviour reports.

  • Elan

    Following this story from the start, At the last October Committee, it appeared Councillor Stolte was very disappointed with City Planning’s recommendation to wait, in effect, 3 years to start looking at this. At that October meeting, after these presentations by City Planning, Legal and By-Law staff, an obviously exasperated Stolte brought Committee into closed-session.
    Based on the outcome of that close-session, City staff returned at the next meeting with a modified response (with the strong endorsement of the City Manager), to rewrite the original report and adopt a truly immediate response to this issue. It certainly appears to me there must have been a major attitude adjustment demanded and applied in that closed-session to turn this around. That type of courage and sustained commitment to what is right is what we need from all our Councillors. Congratulations, Councillor Stolte.

  • Mary Alice St. James

    Yes, thanks to Councillor Stolte for listening to a community request to get the process started for Burlington-wide Short Term Accommodations Regulations. This is to include licensing and safety protocols. City Council’s support with our City Staff’s work towards this end for May 1st, 2020 is needed. The ECOB’s delegation as well as several delegations from A.C.T. assisted in highlighting the urgency. The Media’s work within Burlington and within the GTA made a huge and positive difference to this outcome. Here’s to believing that we can all feel that advocacy and teamwork are alive and worthwhile within our city. Mary Alice

  • Leslie

    It may have been removed from AirBnB but it’s still available for bookings on vrbo.com under a new profile. I believe AirBnB made the move to ban party houses only because the California shooting hit a little too close to home – only 20 min from headquarters. That was an exceptionally unfortunate event that could have been prevented sooner. We’re headed in the right direction though.

  • She deserves kudos for multiple reasons and particularly for this very difficult situation.