Greater Sudbury city council has agreed that staff should add teeth to its property standards bylaw.
Presently, when the city receives a complaint regarding a broken bylaw, they place an order and a compliance date they work with the owner to meet.
“Currently, with what we have in our property standards bylaw, we don’t have set fines and we don’t have the ability to summons people to court,” city Corporate Security and Bylaw Services manager Stefany Mussen told city council during their Sept. 17 meeting.
With a number of changes which the city’s elected officials agreed to last week, this is slated to change.
Per a recommendation by city Permits and Approvals manager Denise Clement, set fines within the property standards bylaw will be established to be address specific offences or violations.
Plus, a non-compliance fee of $500 will replace the city’s current $230 fee, and language is being added around Ontario Building Code Act fines, which range from $25,000 to $50,000 for individuals and $50,000 to $100,000 for corporations convicted of an offence, all of which Clement noted is consistent with other municipalities.
In addition to these points of city-recommended teeth to existing bylaws, Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann requested escalating fines for second and subsequent offences.
Although a subsequent bylaw drafted by city staff will define the degree to which these fines escalate, Landry-Altmann suggested that increasing fines by $250 increments might be sufficient.
With city council’s direction, staff will draft bylaw changes which the city’s elected officials will vote on during a future meeting.
During the Sept. 17 meeting, city council members also opted against establishing a vacant building registry.
Although registries have proven useful in jurisdictions with a greater number of vacant/derelict buildings, Clement’s report noted that there’s a “limited number” in Greater Sudbury and that the best approach would be adding teeth to bylaw enforcement, which city council members voted to do.
Year to date, city bylaw has monitored 29 vacant, derelict buildings, including 22 residential and seven industrial/commercial/institutional structures.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
