Council tightening rules for derelict properties

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This article was published 20/07/2011 (5278 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon’s building standards and building bylaw will soon have some bigger teeth with which to clamp down on derelict property owners.

City council has authorized city staff to begin preparing an amendment to the current bylaw, with the intent to provide tighter controls and timelines for regulating the condition of vacant dwellings, non-residential buildings and vacant lots.

Taking cues from the recent bylaw changes approved by Winnipeg city council, the changes will centre around the creation of a process by which the city can seize properties that languish for too long without improvements.

"The Municipal Act was amended last summer to give some more strength, more teeth, to municipalities, to now enable them to introduce a process where they can actually take title to the property," deputy city clerk Heather Ewasiuk says.

"The process is not a whole lot more cumbersome than what we currently have in our bylaw, but there is a requirement to issue a derelict certificate for a building, which basically means that the property does not meet the standards as set out in our bylaw."

Once a certificate is issued, a property owner would have 30 days to rectify the situation, otherwise, a second notice is issued that begins the process of a title transfer, Ewasiuk said.

After a mere 60 days, that property could become the city’s, she said.

"That gives us a few more options as to the development of that property and making sure the property gets cleaned up, if that’s the issue, or secured or made safe."

"So, that outlying threat of taking over title to the property might be the deterrent that we need to spark some of our negligent owners into action."

Other features of the amended bylaw could include increasing the current maintenance order fee substantially from the current rate of $200 to $2,000.

In giving administration the go-ahead to prepare the amendment at Monday’s council meeting, council reflected on how such a beefed-up bylaw could have prevented the months-long delay of the clean-up of the Brown Block on the 100-block of 10th Street.

"If we had had this bylaw in place (four months ago), (the work on 10th Street) would be done," Mayor Shari Decter Hirst said.

"The shortened time frames and penalties would be fantastic," Coun. Corey Roberts (Rosser) added. "I think that’s where we need to spend some time and I’d like these sorts of bylaws to earn a nickname — it’s either beauty or the beast. And that’s what it boils down to."

Coun. Jim McCrae (Meadows) suggested that, once invoked a time or two, the stricter rules might be enough to scare negligent property owners straight.

"If it’s used once or twice … people (might) get the idea, ‘This Brandon is the kind of place where people are actually proud of their city and they’re not going to allow buildings and properties to become unsightly or dangerous or any of those things’," he said.

"Hopefully, it’s a good enough piece of law that will work to get our objectives met but also serve as perhaps an example or a deterrent for those who might want to become lazy when it comes to looking after their property."

And while he agreed that a strengthened bylaw should work to eliminate what we calls "a scourge on the community," Coun. Garth Rice (South Centre) noted that if the city is going to strengthen such a bylaw, stepped-up enforcement also needs to follow suit.

"Now that we’re putting this bylaw into place that has some teeth, let’s hire some enforcement to go along with it because we’re short on that end as well," he said.

It’s expected that the amendments could be back in front of council as early as next month.