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VILLAGE OF GOLD RIVER
Bylaw No. 666, 2008
A Bylaw to regulate unsightly premises
within the Village of Gold River.
WHEREAS Section 64 of the Community Charter provides that Council may exercise authority in relation
to nuisances, disturbances and other objectionable situations;
NOW THEREFORE the Council of the Village of Gold River, in open meeting assembled, enacts as
follows:
1.0
1.1
2.0
2.1
CITATION
This bylaw may be cited as the "Village of Gold River Unsightly Premise Bylaw No. 666, 2008.
DEFINITIONS
In this bylaw:
"Bylaw Enforcement Officer" means a person appointed by the Council for the purpose of enforcement
of this bylaw, and includes the Bylaw Enforcement Officer, the Chief Administrative Officer, Deputy Clerk
or a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, (RCMP),
"Council" means the Council of the Village of Gold River,
"Excessive Growth" means brush, grasses, weeds or other growth, which is permitted to grow higher
than the growth on surrounding properties,
"Filth, Discarded Materials or Rubbish" means any and all manner of garbage; discarded or unused
materials; filth; noxious, offensive or unwholesome matter, unlicensed, unused or stripped automobiles,
trucks, trailers, boats, vessels, machinery, mechanical or metal parts; bottles and glass,
"Municipality" means the Village of Gold River,
"Noxious Weeds" means those weeds listed in the regulations to the Weed Control Act of British
Columbia,
"Owner" means the registered owner in fee simple of a property and those persons defined as "owner"
in the Community Charter,
"Person" means any corporation, partnership or party and the personal or other legal representative of a
person, to whom the context can apply according to the law and also includes an owner, the agent of an
owner, or the occupier of, or the holder of a purchaser's interest in an Agreement for Sale, of any real or
personal property within the municipality,
"Real Property" means any parcel of private land within the Village of Gold River,
"Unsightly" means, but is not limited to:
Unsightly Premise Bylaw No. 666, 2008
Page2
a)
the accumulation of filth, discarded materials or rubbish of any kind, including but not limited to
ashes, dead animals, paper, cardboard, tin cans, leaves, wood, bedding, furniture (other than
furniture designed specifically for outdoor use), crockery, glass, bags and appliances,
b)
the accumulation of mechanical equipment, including bulldozers, graders, backhoes or other
similar heavy construction equipment on any site in the Village where such site is not zoned for
such use,
c)
materials of any sort that are strewn about the real property rather than piled in a neat and
appropriate manner,
d)
landscaping that is dead, characterized by excessive growth or lack of maintenance , or is
damaged,
e)
a lowering in quality of the condition of appearance of a structure or parts thereof characterized
by holes, breaks, rot, crumbling, cracking, peeling, rusting or any other evidence of physical
decay or neglect or excessive use or lack of maintenance.
3.0
RUBBISH AND LITTER CONTROL
3.1
No person shall cause or permit water, rubbish or noxious, offensive or unwholesome matter to
collect or accumulate upon or around real property or from depositing or throwing bottles, broken
glass or other rubbish in any open place, Village park or other public property.
4.0
UNSIGHTLY PREMISES
4.1
No owner or occupier of real property shall allow his or her property to become or remain
unsightly as defined within this Bylaw.
4.2
Where an owner or occupier of real property fails to comply with a requirement referred to in
subsection 4.1, the municipality by its employees or other persons, at reasonable times and in a
reasonable manner, shall enter on the property and effect the removal at the expense of the
person who has failed to comply.
4.3
Where a person at whose expense removal is carried out under subsection 4.2 does not pay the
cost of removal on or before December 31st in the year that the removal was done, the costs shall
be added to and form part of the taxes on that real property as taxes in arrears.
5.0
INSPECTION
5.1
A Bylaw Enforcement Officer or Peace Officer is hereby authorized to enter, at all reasonable
times, on any property to ascertain whether the requirements of this Bylaw are being met or the
regulations contained in this Bylaw are being observed, and may take such actions as required
under the Procedures as listed in Schedule "A" attached hereto and made part of this Bylaw.
6.0
OFFENCES
6.1
Any person who contravenes any provision of this Bylaw is guilty of an offence and shall, upon
summary conviction thereof, be liable to a maximum penalty of $2000.00
Unsightly Premise Bylaw No. 666, 2008
Page3
6.2
Each day that an offence continues shall constitute a separate offence against this Bylaw.
7.0
ENFORCEMENT
7.1
This Bylaw is designated under the provisions of Section 264 of the Community Charter as a
Bylaw that may be enforced by means of a ticket in the form prescribed, and in accordance with
this Bylaw.
7.2
Bylaw Enforcement Officers and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are designated
to enforce this Bylaw pursuant to Section 264 (1) (b) of the Community Charter.
7.3
Pursuant to Section 269(1)(c) of the Community Charter, authorization is hereby delegated to the
Bylaw Enforcement Officer to refer tickets issued with respect to this bylaw to the Provincial Court
for a hearing.
8.0
PENAL TIES
8.1
Pursuant to Section 264(1 )(c) of the Community Charter, the words or expressions set forth
below in Column 1 designate the offence committed under the Bylaw section numbers appearing
in Column 2 opposite the respective words or expressions.
8.2
Pursuant to Section 265(1 )(a) of the Community Charier, the fine amount set forth below in
Column 3 is the fine amount that corresponds to the section number and words or expressions
set out in Columns 1 and 2 opposite the fine amount.
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3
Offence
Bylaw Section
Fine Amount
Accumulation of rubbish or litter
3.1
$150.00
Unsiahtlv premise (includes accumulation of filth, discarded
4.1
$150.00
materials, uncut grass, excessive weeds or other
noxious weeds, accumulation of mechanical or heavv
construction equipment on a site not zoned for such use)
9.0
SEVERABILITY
9.1
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase in this Bylaw is for any reason held to be
invalid by a decision of any Court of competent jurisdiction, the invalid portion thereof shall be
severed and the decision that is invalid shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of
the Bylaw.
10.0
REPEAL
10.1
The Village of Gold River Untidy and Unsightly Premise Bylaw No. 330, 1986 is hereby repealed.
Unsightly Premise Bylaw No. 666, 2008
READ A FIRST AND SECOND TIME THIS
5TH
READ A THIRD TIME THIS
20TH
ADOPTED THIS
2 ND
C. Anderson
MAYOR
DAY OF
DAY OF
DAY OF
MAY
MAY
JUNE
Page4
2008.
2008.
2008.
L. Plourde CORP RA TE ADMINISTRATOR
Unsightly Premise Bylaw No. 666, 2008
Page5
Bylaw No. 666, 2008
Schedule "A"
Unsightly Premise Procedures
1.
Upon receipt of a complaint (either verbal or written) of if staff considers a premise is unsightly or
untidy, the Bylaw Enforcement Officer or alternate authorized person, shall inspect the property.
2.
Complaints must be accompanied by a valid phone number and street address of the complainant.
Such complaints shall be kept confidential.
3.
The Bylaw Enforcement Officer shall respond to complaints from occupiers and/or owners who reside
or own property within 300 meters of the alleged violation.
4.
Should staff pursue a complaint under the bylaw, the Bylaw Enforcement Officer, or alternate
authorized person, shall advise the registered owner and any occupier of the property in writing at
least ten days before the Council meeting where the matter of enforcement will be considered by
Municipal Council.
5.
The notice referred to in Section 4 shall advise that failure to comply with the request to clean up the
property will result in the matter being forwarded to Council (specify date, time and location) for
deliberation at which time the property owner or authorized designate is requested to attend.
The
notice shall include a copy of the bylaw.
6.
The staff recommendation to Council shall be that the Village undertake cleaning of the property and
that the expenses incurred, including a $500 processing fee, will be applied to the property taxes as of
December 31st of the current year.
7.
Not more than two days before the Council meeting, the Bylaw Enforcement Officer or alternate
authorized person, shall inspect the property and if the property has not been cleaned up, shall advise
the Council accordingly.
The notice shall contain a detailed inventory of the violations and
recommended remediation.
8.
At the Council meeting, the owner, occupier or agent shall be given copies of any further material
prepared by staff and shall be invited to make a submission to Council.
9.
Should Council determine to proceed with direct enforcement it shall be done by way of resolution.
The resolution shall state:
-
the owner has ten days to clean up the property;
-
specify the specific clean up requirements;
-
indicate the specific area to be cleaned up;
-
the consequences if the requested work is not completed.
10.
The resolution shall be mailed to the owner and occupier, if applicable.
Unsightly Premise Bylaw No. 666, 2008
Page 6
11.
The Bylaw Enforcement Officer, or alternate authorized person, shall conduct a site inspection ten
days following the notice. If cleanup or the required remediation has not occurred, either Village staff
or a private contractor shall undertake the specified clean up. Any expenses incurred, including the
$500.00 processing fee, shall be listed with an invoice and mailed to the registered owner. If such
expenses are not paid by the end of the current year, the expenses shall be added to the property
taxes pursuant to the Local Government Act/Community Charier.