Iqaluit takes aim at run-down eyesore lots

Owners of properties with run-down buildings, old cars and garbage-strewn lots in Iqaluit must clean up their acts or face stiff fines, under a new bylaw now before Iqaluit City Council.

The Unsightly Land Bylaw received second reading Nov. 22 and will go to its third and final reading Dec. 13.

The bylaw is a first for Iqaluit, said Arif Sayani, director of Planning and Lands for the city.

The bylaw would give bylaw officers and the city’s building inspector the power to issue clean-up orders to property owners or occupants for health and safety reasons, Sayani said.

“In 95 per cent of cases where the city has received complaints without this bylaw, it has been able to facilitate something that makes everyone happy,” Sayani said

“The bylaw is here to give us that extra authority.”

Under the bylaw, the city would have the power to do a clean up if a property owner fails to comply with a clean-up order.

The bylaw would give the city the power to impose fines of up to $2,000 for individuals and up to $10,000 for corporations.

The city would also be able to bill the property owner for clean-up costs.

Sayani said these steps would be taken only in extreme cases where orders have been ignored and all other methods have been exhausted.

“Because this is the first time we are putting a bylaw like this in place, we will approach it very carefully and because it is a bylaw there are always opportunities to amend it,” Sayani said.