The owners of four unsightly properties in the Hart have been given until Sept. 24 to clean up their acts, or the city will do it for them and send them the bill.
On Monday night, city council approved remedial orders for properties at 7695 Pearl Dr., 3962 Balsum Rd., and 3951 and 3957 Crawford Pl. A single family owns the properties on Balsum and Crawford, which are adjacent to each other.
In a report to city council, city bylaw services manager Charlotte Peters said the properties on Balsam and Crawford are covered in 40 years of accumulated derelict vehicles, construction materials, trailers, mechanical parts, pipes, wood, trash, discarded electronics and other items, all in a state of decay.
“If a fire ever broke out on this property, there is no way anyone could get in there to put it out,” Peters said. “The owners are in their 70s. If the city doesn’t clean it up, it will never get cleaned up.”
The city has been trying to get compliance from the owners since 2014, Peters said. In the past, the mess spilled over on the property of a nearby church, without the church’s permission.
In 2019 the owners, with help from their adult children, removed three derelict cars and 3,000 pounds of debris. The children, who don’t live in town, came back and removed three more trailer loads of material in 2020.
“At that point, about 20 per cent of the debris was removed,” Peter said.
There are still 14 derelict vehicles on the property, four dangerous trees threatening nearby homes, and tons of debris and building material, she said.
“I attended again today, there was a minimal amount of improvement,” Peters said.
If the city does end up doing the cleanup, bylaw services would work with the city’s procurement department to try to and recover some costs from the large amounts of scrap metal on the site, she added.
For the property on Pearl Drive, bylaw services first received a complaint about it in September 2020.
Bylaw officers found four derelict vehicles, five derelict trailers, two sheds covered in tarps, a storage unit, a badly fire-damaged RV trailer and debris throughout the property. The property is a rental and the tenant was unable to do the cleanup.
The owner, who lives in the Hart as well, has refused to do the work, Peters said.
“He did not have a plan to clean anything up, and he said it was the tenant’s responsibility,” Peters said. “I attended this residence today and there has been some work done, but there is a long, long way to go. It would make the neighbours very, very happy if we got this cleaned up.”
Peters said bylaw services always try to work with property owners to get compliance and coming to city council for a remedial order is a final resort after other measures including fines have failed.
“We have had some success this summer… and we do have more in the hopper,” Peters said.
Coun. Kyle Sampson said the city’s remedial action is a reminder to other messy property owners that land ownership comes with responsibilities.
Allowing properties to become unsightly dumps is unfair to everyone around them, Coun. Cori Ramsay said.
“It’s really important that the community sees this action happening,” she said.
