Council directed staff to prepare a report around a system seeking short-term rental (STR) properties to register with the municipality.
The direction came after Coun. Tony Mintoff said he could no longer agree with status quo.
"I think we've heard enough," he said. "The survey speaks volumes and for some reason some of these concerns are not reaching the ears of bylaw. I think it's clearly time for us to take action to direct staff to develop a framework for registration and licensing policy that can be helpful to us in introducing and ensuring we can identify STRs and that people can do so by providing safe accommodations. This football has been kicked around for a long time."
Mintoff was referring to a survey conducted by the Federation of Tiny Township Shoreline Associations (FoTTSA), results of which were brought to council at a meeting in May.
Coun. Cindy Hastings agreed with Mintoff.
"I've given this an awful lot of thought," she said. "And it's been kicked around a lot and residents are not happy. I appreciate comments by staff. We're not looking to place a prohibition on STRs, we want to be able to support bylaw by having a registration process."
Scott Williams, short-term rental property owner and a FoTTSA director, said he was very pleased by council's move in the direction of establishing a registration system.
"I understand the reason for the registration, but I don't like the idea of incurring the extra expense when we're not part of the problem," he said adding it's also an enforcement issue. "If (the municipality) is prepared to do that, then it adds value for us."
Williams, who rents out his cottage in Georgian Beach at least a week or more, said he and his family tends to use the cottage for most of the summer and rents mostly to those they've rented to before.
"We're ongoing residents; we're very sensitive to the effect we may have on our neighbours," he said. "We know all of them and we don't want to do anything that compromises their enjoyment."
Steve Harvey, chief municipal law enforcement officer, said it's likely staff can develop something by following the lead taken by other municipalities that have passed similar bylaws.
"We're not reinventing the wheel," he said. "There are municipalities that have done this. And some of them have had issues and some of them have modified. We can benefit from their mistakes. If council feels this is the right way to go, we should just get on with it."
Staff will bring back a report at a future council meeting.
