Peter Road property owner Dale Cassidy is upset it has taken five years for the city to deal with a complaint about an allegedly unpermitted structure on his neighbour's property.
Cassidy said he contacted the city five years ago to complain about an outbuilding on his neighbour's property which he claims crosses onto his property. A lean-to roof attached to the outbuilding is attached to a fence Cassidy claims is on his side of the property line.
Snow and water from the outbuilding slides off the roof into his driveway, Cassidy said.
"I've been dealing with this for five years," he said. "I can't finish the fence because of that. It's become a dangerous structure, is what it is."
Snow from the outbuilding roof has buried cars parked in the driveway, he said.
Cassidy currently rents the property out, and his tenant was nearly buried by snow falling off the outbuilding roof.
"I'm trying to sell the place. I've had a couple people come by and look. They look at it, and go, 'What's with the roof?'" he said. "It's definitely hurt the value."
The city should enforce its own building bylaws and force his neighbour to remove the
structure, Cassidy said.
City manager of subdivision, infrastructure and building inspections Donald Parent said the first document in the city's file on the case dates to 2009 - three years ago.
At that time, Parent's predecessor had contacted the property owner to seek proof of a building permit for the outbuilding roof structure.
Addressing the issue was complicated by human resource changes in the department, Parent said.
Both his predecessor and the building inspector who authorized the initial permit in 2003 have left the department, he said.
"We're seeking compliance with the property," he said.
It's not something we can say for sure is unpermitted work. It boils down to due process."
The city must show it has made every effort to allow the property owner to show the building is in compliance, or bring the building into compliance, before it can take action to force the issue, Parent said.
If the structure is found to be unpermitted, the city can seek a court injunction, seek a remedial action order from city council or register notice on the land title.
"We're looking to get the structure taken down, not just have a notice put on title," he said.
"We're seeking compliance, and we're definitely trying to get some response from the owner."
The property owner could not be contacted as of press time.
