Some councillors frustrated with new maintenance bylaw

Tori Sutton
Staff Reporter
A new lot-maintenance bylaw has been adopted, but it still leaves Stratford powerless over derelict gas station properties.

At Monday night’s meeting, while sitting as the planning and heritage committee, city council voted to adopt the new bylaw, but not before several members expressed frustration about their inability to force clean-up at the abandoned sites.

The new lot-maintenance bylaw does not allow for appeal – though property owners can plead their case before council – and eventually, once approved by the attorney general, will allow the city to issue tickets.

Coun. Paul Nickel, who has been the most vocal councillor on the gas station issue, said the new bylaw makes it look like the city is picking on the little guy.

“The perception is we are picking on the homeowner while allowing the large oil companies to get away with things the homeowner can’t get away with,” he argued.

Barbara Dembek, director of building and planning, explained gas station lots will be held to the same standards as residential properties, but said the city cannot force them to landscape the abandoned lots.

CAO Ron Shaw agreed, saying bylaws have to conform with the Municipal Act and provincial legislation and that he does not believe the city can force landscaping, especially without a site plan.
Coun. Dave Gaffney questioned if he could dig up his grass, replace it with gravel and place concrete blocks around his property, similar to the appearance of the gas stations.

Dembek said as long as the blocks were “generally neat” and not rubble, that nothing could be done.
But Coun. Dave Hunt argued the city has been fighting the oil companies, forcing them to tidy up their lots whenever they contravened the bylaw. He said the new bylaw will allow the city to continue doing the same thing.

Coun. Tom Clifford was concerned about the complaint-driven enforcement of the bylaw. He noted a city-owned property beside his home is often left to grow wild with no maintenance.

“A bylaw officer should be going around and checking,” he said. Dembek said more resources may be needed if an officer was sent out to do such a job.

Those failing to comply with the bylaw could receive a $125 fine, plus $30 for  a victim surcharge and court costs.