The homes, which are being built in Port Carling and Bala, are being managed by StaffRes, a company specializing in providing staff housing for resorts and other large employers. StaffRes is said to have an agreement with Red Leaves to provide accommodations for its staff when the Minett resort opens later this year.

The company’s Bala and Port Carling facilities will reportedly contain as many as 11 bedrooms each.

Neither proposal required a rezoning application or public meeting, as multi-bedroom homes are considered family dwellings, which are permitted in residential zones.

The home in Port Carling, which will house on average about two-dozen people, required only a building permit for construction.

The proposal is worrying neighbours, who fear the multi-tenant homes will become unruly and present problems with parking and noise.

In the past, Muskoka Lakes experienced significant difficulties with homes used for resort staff housing. In the late 1990s, two homes in Port Carling used by the former Brown’s Landing were the subject of numerous complaints about noise.

While it’s too soon to say how the township’s new staff housing facilities will fare, neighbours of the homes are concerned about the lack of public input into the projects.

“We weren’t even circulated (notice) about it,” said Bill Grigg, who lives near another Port Carling home just purchased by StaffRes. The building is located on West Street, near Indian River Trading Co. “There’s certainly a need for affordable staff housing facilities in Muskoka Lakes, but we think they should be done at the resort properties.”

StaffRes president Suresh Singh acknowledged Grigg’s and others concerns, but said his company has a “zero tolerance” policy when it comes to disrupting the community. StaffRes will have a superintendent in place for each of its three Muskoka Lakes properties and regular cleaning and site inspections will take place, he said.

“We have a comprehensive set of rules and regulations that we follow,” said Singh, whose company is embarking on similar staff housing projects across Alberta and British Columbia. “Noise, garbage, smoking, anything — you’re gone. We want this to be an example of how we do business.”

Still, in the absence of any current bylaws for rooming houses, the Muskoka Lakes planning committee is exploring ways to regulate projects like Singh’s.

Councillors recently directed township staff to draft official plan policies, as well as zoning and licensing bylaw requirements for rooming houses.

The township is reportedly reviewing a bylaw used by the City of Oshawa to control student housing for the Durham College campus. The city used licensing requirements to regulate the number of units allowed in a building, as well as to address other issues like fire and building code compliance.

Muskoka Lakes may do the same by limiting rooming houses to 3,000 square feet, including basements. A maximum of five bedrooms is also proposed.

Rooming houses already constructed when the bylaw is passed would still be required to obtain a licence. Enforcement, however, could be an issue, noted township director of planning Stephen Fahner.

“Proving it’s a rooming house is going to be the difficulty,” Fahner said. Since the Planning Act prohibits municipalities from defining what a family is, if a homeowner maintains that their house is a single-family dwelling, the township may have trouble enforcing the bylaw.

“We’re going to have to get some legal advice on that,” Fahner said.

Mayor Susan Pryke said she and other councillors are hopeful that this approach will make for a comprehensive bylaw that will address both sides of the issue.

“We think this is a good step forward,” said Pryke, adding that affordable staff housing is needed in Muskoka Lakes due to the township’s dependence upon resort tourism. “They are important uses . . . but you also need some controls.”

However the bylaw is structured, Singh said StaffRes would welcome the regulations.

“We don’t have a problem with that at all,” he said. “We’ve recognized that (there are concerns) and that’s why we’re spending so much money on the management and maintenance of these properties.”

Singh said StaffRes’ Muskoka Lakes homes could be occupied within the next several weeks.

The new rooming house bylaw, meanwhile, is expected to appear before council for debate this fall, said Fahner.