After over a year of providing free items and homegrown food to the community, the Ward’s Library of Things has been shut down upon threat of a ticket from City of Guelph bylaw officers.
The Ward’s Library of Things was a wooden bench that sat outside 178 Alice St. with a homemade sign urging people to take the things they need and to leave the things they don’t while returning the things once they’re done with them.
Ward’s Library of Things founder Danny Drew said he was approached by bylaw officers on Thursday who informed him the table was in violation of encroachment and all items needed to be removed by Friday or else he would receive a ticket.
“My dad passed away last year, and he was kind of a hoarder, and I got a bunch of useful stuff, and I just didn’t know what to do with it as I didn’t want to throw it out,” said Drew. “I just put it outside basically, and at the same time I was learning about the concepts of library socialism and stuff, and the idea of a community library of sorts was appealing to me and I thought it would be great to not only reduce consumption but help people in need of stuff.”
Drew and his housemates were informed the table, although sitting on what they believed was their property, still fell under property controlled by the City of Guelph.
On the average two-lane residential street, the standard road allowance extends 33 feet from the centre of the road in either direction.
Under the City of Guelph’s encroachment page, the city refers to the act as the gradual trespass on another’s property.
The page reads: “The City of Guelph has a bylaw in place that prohibits a variety of encroachment activities. Encroachment activities might seem harmless, but they have the potential to cause significant problems. You can help preserve an important balance in your neighbourhood by avoiding encroachment activities, and by informing the City if you see them taking place.”
Drew said the housemates at the Alice Street house did their best to ensure the items were kept in decent condition, which meant installing an umbrella to keep fabric items dry and having a mini-fridge near the table to keep the free food from spoiling.
When approached by bylaw officers, Drew said they informed the house this was their second complaint from a neighbour about the table, and this would be the last warning given before a ticket was issued to the house.
They do, however, have the option to apply for the possibility of allowing an encroachment onto city lands.
This option comes with a non-refundable fee of $186.45 plus HST, and if the application is approved, a further encroachment agreement fee of $326.22 which includes the encroachment agreement fee of $220 plus HST and $77.62 for land registry office registration costs.
Drew said the house created the table and was offering the items to people in need, and to go through the permit process, which creates a paywall, was a ridiculous notion to the house as they could spend upwards of $200 only to be denied the permit.
For now, the table will not resume operations and the house is asking everyone to please respect a new sign informing the public what has happened.
A request for comment through the communications department at the City of Guelph through to bylaw enforcement was not immediately returned.
