North York councillor, residents fight 'commercialization' of residential swimming pools

Thestar.com
Oct. 14, 2021
Andrew Palamarchuk

It was like living at a resort. But it was no holiday experience for Alina Dusa. In fact, she says, it led to a nervous breakdown.

This past summer, Dusa’s neighbour rented out his backyard swimming pool on their quiet residential street in North York’s Victoria Village neighbourhood.

“They had people from about 9 a.m. until 10, 11 p.m. every single day and almost non-stop,” Dusa said. “Evenings and weekends were the worst. That’s when bigger groups were coming and they had parties, loud music.”

Pool owner George Haan countered that he listed his pool on swimply.com with a time frame of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on  weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends and used the website to limit the size of a group to a maximum of 12 people at all times.

Dusa, however, said she couldn’t enjoy her backyard or even open her windows as a result of the “horrible” noise, adding there were lots of cars “all the time” parked on her street, located southwest of Lawrence and Victoria Park avenues.

“I had a nervous breakdown in July because of this. Unless you go through this, you cannot understand how it is, like imagine living on a resort day and night,” she said. “People screaming, yelling, splashing ... and we live in a very quiet neighbourhood.”

After reaching out to the pool owner directly and feeling as though their concerns weren't addressed, Dusa said she and her neighbours filed complaints with the city and circulated a petition, which eventually got more than 30 signatures, to try to stop the pool rental. Dusa said the petition was forwarded to the city, as well as politicians, including the local councillor, Denzil Minnan-Wong.

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong. - Dan Pearce/Metroland file photo

At last week’s city council meeting, Minnan-Wong presented a motion, which was passed, directing city staff to “perform a robust analysis of residential pool rentals” and “develop a plan of action with proper regulations and an enforcement plan to protect residents.” The report is due in April 2022.

“There’s this new evolution of the commercialization of swimming pools in residential neighbourhoods that has created a problem with residents,” Minnan-Wong said. “There are issues related to parking and there are public health issues as well. ... And I thought it was time to do something about this because the city really hasn’t contemplated the commercialization of residential properties, not just swimming pools.”

Ilesh Engineer, whose backyard backs onto Haan's swimming pool, said the city shouldn’t allow residential swimming pool rentals.

He said this summer was “like a hell,” noting he had to spend $5,000 to put up a bigger fence “to keep my privacy.”

Haan, said he started renting out his pool in early summer after watching a news report on Swimply, an online marketplace for private swimming pool rentals.

“I don’t think during the rentals, the swimmers who came to our property had really excessive noise,” he said, adding he even covered the cost of raising a fence he shares with a next-door neighbour (not Engineer). In addition, Haan said he installed a noise sensor to monitor the backyard.

Haan said he charged $56 per hour and made $20,000 on the pool rental this summer. He said he was always on site to manage the pool.

Haan said he closed the pool rental on Sept. 10 after an inspection by a city health inspector. Haan also received a Toronto Public Health order to immediately close the pool and a hot tub. The reasons cited in the order include that "the pool was a residential style, backyard pool operating as a Class B public pool" and that the "operator was not trained or experienced in the operation of a Class B pool."

Haan said he made many friends by renting out his pool to the public. Next year, he said, “I will share my pool (with) the public without any fees.”

As for Minnan-Wong’s motion, Haan doesn’t think it’s the right approach and questions why the councillor “didn’t listen to the swimmers” who use private pool rentals.

Swimply didn’t respond to a request for comment by deadline. The company’s website claims hosts can make up to $10,000 per month by sharing their pool by the hour.

Dusa stressed she doesn’t blame the swimmers who rented the swimming pool next door.

“People go to the pool (and) they want to enjoy it. They don’t care (about noise). They pay money,” she said. “They don’t understand that this is a residential area.”

Minnan-Wong said the next several months is the ideal time to reflect on what happened this summer, analyze the issues and develop a plan to manage them next summer.