The Village of Burns Lake have received several complaints from residents regarding unsightly residential properties.
Council has decided to take action by enforcing the Untidy and Unsightly Premise Bylaw — starting with those where there is excessive filth and rubbish, unkempt lawns or landscaping, and derelict vehicles, then progressing to those properties where the building is in disrepair.
Councillor Charlie Rensby while looking at the different options thinks that most severe cases should be enforced.
“We try and be somewhat understanding because you never know when someone’s halfway through doing something.”
“There’s plenty of situations in town where it is not just one seasonal vehicle that they had been parked in their lawn. Its multiple tires, empty food containers and bags of garbage on lawns piled up to four feet tall.”
“Perhaps a good way to go about this would be from a safety perspective. Kids can get into derelict vehicles while playing and cut themselves. Garbages will attract wildlife animals.”
“We take the extreme cases and work with them to a reasonable level. So, I would stick with option three.”
Bylaw Officer Ken Chalmers preferred option one in response to Councillor Rensby’s opinion.
With most severe cases being addressed, Chalmers states property owners are looking at multiple thousands of dollars to repair their homes.
“If you could imagine they had to rebuild the exterior shell of their house, because I haven’t seen the interior. That person is looking at a year long process, find a contractor, source the materials and then get the work done. So just to clarify, it might take a long time,” he said.
Chalmers recommends that property owners would be sent a letter instead by saying excessive filth and garbages needs to be cleaned up which are blowing on neighbor’s yards and flows out into the street. Animals are also drawn by it which becomes health and safety issue for people.
He also suggests after administering these issues its better to move on to more severe cases, like derelict vehicles and retaining walls which are falling down. Several trees are also rotting that might fall on powerlines or neighbor’s yard.
“In that way, you get the ball rolling and get a bunch of quick wins. That’s why I prefer this option.”
Chalmers also suggested residents to clean garbages and mow their lawns one last time before winter.
“If they wait until snow fall and try to get them in spring, then that house would be very difficult to get traction anytime soon. We will be looking at a house that looks like its in a slum which is something like on Seventh Avenue.”
Councillor Kevin White agrees with option one and said Mr. Chalmers has the discretion to pick and choose.