City council will consider remedial action on two more problem properties at its meeting Monday.
Staff reports on the Mytting Road and Spruce Street homes show a collapsing structure in one and junk piled in the front and backyard in the other. Both owners of the properties are dead and the occupants or estate have been unwilling to respond to city requests for clean-up
Broken appliances, run-down vehicles and shopping carts packed with debris have repeatedly cluttered the front and back yard of a Spruce Street home.
Neighbours have complained since 2009, bylaw services records show. While the owner is dead, an older woman and her adult son live at the 2221 Spruce St. home.
"The woman recently suffered a fall and has been unable to maintain the property," the staff report noted. "The adult son also appears to be both unable and unwilling to do so."
In the past there has been some level of "voluntary compliance" with clean-up to an "acceptable" level, but the tenants always let the unsightly garbage return. Lately it's become worse, staff say, set off by the fact that the residents now let "transient people to take shelter in the yard."
That's added to the "clearly evident" odour in the area, made even worse because there aren't any sanitary facilities" on the property.
Staff sent a maintenance letter in mid-April and then an order to remedy in early May to "remove the tarps, tarp covered structures, broken and discarded shopping carts, discarded household appliances, derelict vehicles and similar items.
In both cases, nothing was cleaned, and the city has instead incurred staff costs to monitor the property, which is expected to continue after council issues remedial action.
"However, it should be noted that if action is taken to obtain compliance with the remedial action requirements, any costs associated with that work shall be charged back to the owner as a debt," owed to the city through property tax, the report said.
Meanwhile, neighbours have complained to the city about an abandoned home on Mytting Road since 2008. After the bylaw department reached out to the homeowner, registered to Arthur Stewart Umperville, it learned the owner had died.
When given notice in April to fix the "unsightly and partially collapsed" property, the executor of the estate requested an extension to the end of April. It was granted, but further inspections and follow-ups didn't lead to any change.
"Staff contacted the Executor of the owner's estate and learned that at this time they were unable to take any action to address the property due to financial circumstances," the report said. "It was also noted that the executor felt that the situation was unlikely to change."
The community charter recommends council give the owners 30 days notice of action and two weeks for either to submit a request for reconsideration.
