City council considers boosting resources to tackle illegal suites, bylaw concerns

“There is a frustration of citizens that, is that the only way we can get an action? Because it’s hard to be the one to be a tattletale or to have to wear it,” she said. “They’re curious about whether or not there are other ways we can look at addressing illegal suites.”

As a result, council unanimously approved an amended resolution directing administration to identify any additional resource needs for enhanced data collection, compliance monitoring and enforcement, with those resource needs to be considered during the 2027 operating budget process.

The recommendation came forward following Municipal Planning Commission discussions about backyard suite applications, where concerns were raised that existing records may not fully reflect the number of illegal suites in some neighbourhoods.

Council also directed administration to review and report back with options for a process to identify and report non-compliant illegal suites, including safety concerns and associated enforcement matters, such as the Community Standards Bylaw, that does not rely solely on complaints from neighbouring property owners.

This second motion was brought forward by Councillor Cassandra Curtis, who wanted to add it in due to a story published by rdnewsNOW about an owner of a duplex calling for action this week, that the other half of the duplex, which is vacant, attracted unwanted people because the property was neglected.

Wyntjes said in her closing comments that if they don’t deal with the problem, it will perpetuate.

“I don’t have the answers, but clearly, when one hears on MPC, sometimes it’s capacity issues within the department, and we’ve heard about the number of development permits. We’re hearing about some of the complexities of some of these files. Some are easy, but if we don’t deal with the problem, it’s going to go on and on,” she said, adding that she hears administrations’ concerns about enforcement.

Councillor Kraymer Barnstable said he has concerns about what it will mean for the budget by delaying this until then.

“Nothing is being decided upon today, but it’s going to be an interesting end of November to try and figure out where our priorities lie and also dealing with our term direction,” he said. “I think that’ll help guide us in the budget, and I’m hopeful that we get the right solutions at that point.”

Councillor Tristin Brisbois said she hopes administration can be crafty in how they’ll present it to council during budget, because it’ll be not only hard to enforce but potentially costly.

“You can’t just sit around and do nothing, but is there a different path forward than maybe a traditional one would look for?” she said.

by Ian Gustafson

City council considers boosting resources to tackle illegal suites, bylaw concerns

What's Trending