The city is giving no quarter to property owners who have been told to clean up their act.
Two requests for reconsideration of previously issued remedial action orders were denied by city council Monday night, meaning city crews will step in to make sure unsightly properties are taken care of. Most notably will be at the Lombardy Mobile Home Park, which is already past its July 20 deadline imposed by city council at the July 8 meeting.
"To date, the owner has made a minor attempt" to meet the ordered requirements, said planning and development general manager Ian Wells. According to a report to council, a July 21 inspection noted work still needed to be done on more than half of the lots reviewed.
On Monday night, park management was on hand to plead its case.
Speaking for Lombardy Management Ltd.'s Kal Sall, June Geisser said the park's owner wanted to comply with the clean-up order, but needed the city's co-operation to do so.
The structures the city has ordered demolished aren't owned by the park, but by other individuals and the Residential Tenancy Act doesn't allow for the property owner to walk in and tear them down, Geisser argued.
Sall was willing to do the necessary work if the city could provide him with a letter stating it would be liable if those owners brought a class action suit against him and would cover the costs, Geisser said.
"The man is not a walking bank. You're concerned about the city and their debts. I think it's time that you should be concerned about this man and his debts and what you're demanding of him," she said.
The clean-up orders were given to both the park owner and the individuals who owned the property targeted for action, said administrative services director Walter Babicz, also confirming that only the park owner, and none of the individual mobile home owners, came forward with a request for reconsideration.
"We can't give advice to the landlord in terms of how to proceed but I note that the Manufactured Home (Park) Tenancy Act does allow for a tenancy to be ended if the manufactured home site is to be vacated in order to comply with an order of a municipal government authority and that's what we have here," Babicz said.
Two of the lots slated for clean up are owned by the park management, noted Coun. Frank Everitt, and they still haven't been brought to compliance, either.
"I'm extremely concerned with the action that's been taken to date and, quite frankly, I think the best thing for this situation is to have the city move in as quickly as possible to deal with the remediation order," said Coun. Jillian Merrick.
According to Wells the city will now move to hire contractors to remove problems such as burnt-out trailers and crumbling trailer foundations. "We'll be starting the process very shortly," he said.
"I came in with an open mind to hear what the rationale was for the reconsideration and looking for an opportunity to do that but we weren't given one," said
Coun. Garth Frizzell.
"The arguments that were given weren't compelling."
There was no argument, compelling or otherwise, for the other request from Commonwealth Campus Corporation to extend its clean up of 231-233 George St.
No representative was on hand in council chambers when the matter of granting an extension until the end of October was raised.
"I think there's been plenty of time to clean up the property over the many years its been sitting there in the condition that it's in," said Coun. Murry Krause of the long-vacant and boarded up laundromat.
"It's not just about cleaning up this property, it's about sending a message to the community that we're not going to put up with derelict properties, properties that are unsafe and people that are paying their taxes do not need to or deserve living beside someone that has a building like this," Coun. Brian Skakun said.
"I think it's a strong message that we're sending."
Once the city has received an environmental report confirming any hazardous materials in the building, it will go to tender for demolition, Wells said.
