Councillor Cunningham renews calls for clean up of unsightly properties

The Spring time ritual of discussing Prince Rupert's
unsightly premises returned to City Council on Monday

It's become as much of a spring ritual as cleaning up your front lawn, but for Councillor Barry Cunningham the lack of action in enforcing municipal bylaw options on unsightly properties is proving to be a frustrating thing.

Mr. Cunningham regularly brings the topic to the attention of his fellow Council members, but as can be seen by that frequency, not much ever seems to get done about making downtown property owners take action towards the clean up.

Monday night, the Council member raised the issue one more time.

"Before this all started, the pandemic, we were going to start bringing people before council or going after people for the Property Maintenance Bylaw and that and I just wonder where we are with that situation. 

I know it's going to be difficult but I see no reason why we can't bring people one meeting at a time or something like that and start cleaning this town up.  

You know there's stuff downtown that should be taken care of and it should be our priority and then after that getting to the residential areas.

It's getting to the point where there's more and more cars, four flat tires, unlicensed and people don't seem to give a care. So I think it's something, I know our bylaw people are busy, but I think it's something we should be looking at"

Neither the Mayor, or the City Manager followed up on his comments with any advice as to what, if any actions the City could take at this time, in order to address the Councillors concerns.

The Property Maintenance Bylaw BL3297, 2010  notes how Council has the authority to regulate and control pollution, nuisances, pests, noxious weeds, unsightly premises, unwholesome or noxious materials, and odors and impose requirements in relation to bylaw enforcement and related matters.

The document provides for much in the way of guidance for property owners on the expectations of city council when it comes to property maintenance.

Though as would seem to be the case as outlined by Mr. Cunningham, it's a section of the Bylaw collection that doesn't seem to get much in the way of consultation, or action on from bylaw enforcement these days.

You can review Mr. Cunningham's commentary from the City's Video Archive from Monday starting at the thirty four minute mark.





A look back at some of his past inquiries on the theme can be explored below:

January 2020 -- Owners of Unsightly properties put on notice, Council set to take up issue of enforcement in 2020
March 2019 -- City of Prince Rupert to take action on Derelict vehicles
June 2018 -- Plans for waterfront eyesore on the mind of Councillor Cunningham
May 2018 -- Lack of civic clean up plans questioned by Councillor Cunningham
March 2018 -- Councillor Cunningham looks to property tax solution to issue of derelict and unsightly properties
May 2017 -- Few options available to Council to force Clean Up of downtown eyesores
February 2017-- A not so inviting vision for tourists, or would be investors to be found in the downtown area

For more notes on Monday's Council session see our Council Timeline Feature here.

A wider overview of City Council themes can be found here.

Councillor Cunningham looks to property tax solution to issue of derelict and unsightly properties

Councillor Barry Cunningham returned to the theme of the city's
unsightly buildings and properties on Monday night. Offering what he
believes could be a solution to collecting on fines that are issued by the City

If City Council follows through on a suggestion from Councillor Barry Cunningham from Monday night, when they head to For Nelson this May for the annual NCLGA convention, they'll be bringing a resolution related to derelict buildings with them.

With the Prince Rupert delgation looking to share notes on how to address the issue  with other municipal governments in Northern British Columbia.

On Monday, Councillor Cunningham, followed up on some comments earlier in the evening from Councillor Niesh on what to do with empty properties in town. With Mr. Cunningham making note that at times it has been hard for the city to collect on fines for property owners that do not take proper care of their buildings or property, a topic which has been a frustration for the Councillor for the last few years.

A sample of some of that concern can be found below:

August 2017 -- Councillor Cunningham keeps heat on City Council over condition of downtown buildings
May 2017 -- Few options available to Council to force Clean Up of downtown eyesores
December 14 -- Councillor Cunningham wants action on lack of snow clearing on absentee owner properties
April 2016 -- Cunningham calls for hiring of an additional By-Law officer

To remedy that problem, he offered up a potential solution of looking to find a way to impose those fines as part of the property tax payment process, looking to transfer the enforcement of the unsightly premises fines to the annual payment on property in July.

"If for some unknown reason, we actually do fine someone for unsightly  premises, or things like that and we have difficulty collecting it we can put it on to their taxes. I don't believe that process exists right now and  it seems to be a reason why we are not going after these unsightly properties because it's too difficult to fine them and collect it"


City Staff will investigate the situation further, before Council members make their way to Fort Nelson for the four day NCLGA gathering that is set to take place from May 7 to 10.

You can take in his presentation to Council from the City's Video Archive below, his unsightly premises observations start at the thirty nine minute mark.





More items of note on civic taxes can be found here.

For a look at some of the other items of Monday nights Council session see our Council Timeline feature here.

A larger overview of Council Discussion topics can be found as part of our Council Discussion Archive here.


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