In light of complaints from two residents about derelict properties near them, the City of Moose Jaw has provided an explanation of how it handles such issues.
The municipality is unable to divulge specific details to the public or to people who raise a complaint about property enforcement issues — in this case, 1511 Hastings Street and 749 Stadacona Street East — but it can explain the process of how it handles such situations, Mayor Fraser Tolmie explained in an email. Nuisance properties are a challenge for every city, and the City of Moose Jaw employs two bylaw officers to oversee about 14,000 properties in the city.
Bylaw enforcement acts on a complaint-driven basis, so the appropriate section of The Cities Act requires that when there is a nuisance complaint, a bylaw officer will inspect. If it’s warranted, a cleanup order is sent via registered mail and is deemed delivered on the fifth day following the mail out.
The property owner then has 15 days from the deemed delivered date to appeal the order or complete the work. If the work is not completed after the appeal period, the municipality will complete the work at the expense of the property owner.
It is not uncommon where a resident might see what appears to be a neglected property — with overgrown weeds, for example — and an Order to Remedy has already been directed to the property owner, Tolmie said. That same observer might see that those overgrown weeds are cleaned up, only to fall back into an unkempt state.
“It is frequently the case that such properties have received repeated orders from the city and that either the owner or, in default, the city has taken action to clean the property,” he said. “Legislation does not provide for open-ended regulation in these cases. In every occurrence a new inspection and a new order must be issued.”
City hall has issued multiple cleanup orders to the two properties in question for many years, the mayor continued. Following each order, it’s been either the property owner or the municipality that has completed the work.
With the Stadacona Street East property, city hall received the complaint on June 12, and by June 15, it had inspected the property and issued a cleanup order.
With the Hastings Street property, city administration has communicated with Carter Currie from 2018 to January 2020. It offered him the opportunity to have the Administrative Review Officer hear his concerns, which Carter declined, Tolmie said. City hall has since forwarded the file to the provincial ombudsman.
“Unkempt properties and absentee owners are an issue in every municipality and the City of Moose Jaw treats each complaint seriously and works with the property owners to ensure compliance,” added Tolmie. “We have struck a balance of respecting property owners’ rights while ensuring that properties are maintained to a reasonable standard. The final — and last — resort is buildings are demolished.”
