City council is on the receiving end of more complaints from people caught in the web of the stepped-up property management enforcement in the city.
Council received a letter from Blair Letrud, who operates Blair Letrud Bobcat and Yard Services, who owns a home-based business in the city.
In a letter dated Feb. 4, Letrud stated that a "recent change in city bylaws has made it unlawful to store my Bobcat in my garage as I have done in the past."
He said that after many calls and letters from the City he was told he would not be allowed a business license if he did not move his equipment to an industrial-zoned property. He said he ended up buying additional private property and says he has added overhead as a result.
Letrud said it was a "very uneven playing field for a small business" and noted several other businesses in other residential areas across the city had Bobcats and other equipment stored on their properties, such as trucks, lawn equipment and so on. He listed about eight other properties at other locations as examples.
Letrud's letter prompted a discussion at a Feb. 14 council meeting about enforcement of the nuisance abatement bylaw and its impact on home based businesses. Councillor Ron Crush commented during the discussion that the issue was related to the whole issue of licensing home-based businesses, particularly instances when a home-based business outgrows the neighbourhood.
"There have to be ways for us to be able to define when it's outgrown that home base," Crush said, with the property management bylaw becoming "one of those mechanisms" used to help define it.
Fire Chief Pat MacIsaac said all the properties in Letrud's letter were checked out. In the case of the properties mentioned, most of the potential alleged violations listed in the letter weren't violations at all, as commercial vehicles were allowed under the bylaw. In the remaining instances bylaw officers got in contact with the property owners and reached agreements for property deemed compliant.
MacIsaac told council that bylaw enforcement officers were acting as per council's wishes, by engaging residents to find solutions and by not being heavy-handed in enforcing the bylaw provisions.
