OLDS — Town council has backed a property clean-up order issued late last year by a peace officer.
Senior peace officer Paul Wright says that's the first time since he’s been in Olds that a clean-up order has gone all the way to council for decision. Wright joined town staff last July.
Chief administrative officer Brent Williams was asked if such an issue had ever come to council before for review.
"I have no record of such a review occurring previously," he wrote in an email to the Albertan.
Wright notes that under the Municipal Government Act (MGA), the property owner still has one more avenue of appeal, to Court of King’s Bench.
The property in question is located on Beech Crescent.
The town‘s municipal enforcement department received complaints that the property was unsightly.
An investigation was launched and the property was indeed found by a peace officer to violate the town’s Community Standards Bylaw and the MGA.
“The Town of Olds served the property owner with a ‘notice to remedy’ warning regarding the unsightly premises. No action was taken by the property owner in the allotted time frame,” a town document said.
On Nov. 22 last year, a peace officer delivered an enforcement order to the home and an original of that order was delivered by registered mail to the property owner, giving 14 days to comply.
On Dec. 5, the town received a letter from the property owner asking that the enforcement order be dropped.
In that letter, the property owner said the property contains “rustic décor - antiques,” thereby helping seniors and volunteers to downsize and that that décor is continuously rearranged.
The property owner further said an offer had been made to install a fence and indicated that that suggestion was rejected by a town peace officer.
The town received legal advice to have town council undertake a review of the matter before any further enforcement efforts are undertaken.
Council was told that as of May 23, the offending materials had not been cleaned up.
“It still stands as unmitigated or unaddressed as of this morning,” Williams said.
Protective services director Justin Andrew said his recollection is that that the property owner’s only action to deal with the order had been to place a tarp over the offending materials.
“There was no discernible change in the quantity of material. It was just covered over,” he said.
Administrative staff recommended backing the municipal enforcement department’s order and council voted to do so.
“As mayor, I’ve reviewed this several times and I’ve noted for myself that I would recommend A, to confirm the enforcement order stands as written,” mayor Judy Dahl said.
During an interview with the Albertan, Wright said to his knowledge, this marked the first time in the nearly one year that he’s been in his position in Olds that an enforcement order has come to council for review.
He said there are a number of steps peace officers can take to solve the matter before getting to that stage.
“We can go to any one of those stages, but generally, we like to follow a step-based procedure -- have a conversation with somebody,” Wright said.
“If that doesn’t work, a notice to remedy. We can go for a ticket or we can go straight to something – an act under the Municipal Government Act.”
Wright said generally, if the town ends up having to clean up the property, the cost of that clean-up is added to the property owner’s tax bill.
