A good neighbour bylaw to keep property owners in check will come into effect at the end of the month if adopted by Kamloops city council on November 21st.
City staff say the good neighbour bylaw will help the city gain compliance for nuisance behaviour on private properties, including those that are regularly visited by bylaw officers and the RCMP.
“We all live in Kamloops and we have expectations about living here and we do come across the occasional property owner or landlord that doesn't want to maintain the community standards for their property,” said community safety and enforcement manager John Ramsay.
“When we have to keep going there and have to address those concerns, that's a drain on our resources and they should be held accountable for that.”
The new bylaw combines the noise control bylaw and the unsightly property bylaw, but also introduces excessive nuisance service call fees and expands the definition of nuisance, Ramsay said.
Under the bylaw, a property that generates multiple complaints can be designated a “nuisance property.” That designation can be made when a property attracts more than one nuisance service call within a 24-hour period or more than three calls within a 12-month period.
Service calls include response from bylaw services, RCMP or Kamloops Fire Rescue as the result of a nuisance complaint.
According to the bylaw, the charges will be calculated on a cost-recovery basis and tacked onto the owner’s property taxes. For example, nuisance properties that are not complying could be charged $30 per hour for response from a bylaw enforcement officer, $45 per hour for a fire inspector and $45 per hour for an RCMP corporal. See a full list of charges here.
Ramsay said the bylaw just gives authorities one more tool to deal with problem properties, but said the city doesn’t plan on fining property owners that comply with requests. He also expects the bylaw would only apply to one or two properties a year.
“Most people will work with us. They want to do their part.” Ramsay said, noting the city seeks voluntary compliance first.
“I think what it helps us do is ensure that those problem properties that we are dealing with, those property owners, that they have the right incentive to take action to fix the problem.
“It's not meant to be punishing people. It's not meant to charge people a whole pile of money. As long as they are working with us to try and fix what's going on, we will not be issuing these fees. If they decide not to cooperate with us, then this is an option available to us.”
Ramsay said the idea to put in place a nuisance bylaw came about in 2013, and he believes the catalyst was a problem property on the North Shore. He said the drafting process for the new bylaw has been in the works for months and isn’t in direct response to a series of recent RCMP calls to 217 Nelson Ave. The timing, he said, is purely coincidental.
Council is expected adopt the bylaw on November 21st.
"This gives the public a chance — it's been made public, if they have any concerns they can contact legislative services, council, the mayor and express those concerns in a public forum," Ramsay said.
“I don't expect any issues with it being passed, but I can't tell, it depends what the public says."
The bylaw was modeled after Nanaimo’s, but similar bylaws also exist in Abbotsford, Armstrong, Clearwater, Hope, Lake Country, West Kelowna, Osoyoos, Williams Lake, Surrey, Vancouver and many more B.C. cities.
You can read the full details of the bylaw here.
