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Guelph/Eramosa to clamp down on bylaw noncompliance

Those in Guelph/Eramosa who do not comply with bylaw orders could face additional costs
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GUELPH/ERAMOSA — Council has given some teeth to bylaw enforcement officials, creating a fee for those who choose to ignore township orders.

These fees begin upon the re-inspection of a bylaw infraction.

As mayor Chris White explained, on a bylaw officer's first visit to a site the bylaw officer may resort to education, a warning or an order. If the bylaw officer issues an order and upon a follow-up visit there is still an issue with bylaw noncompliance, an initial $100 fee may be issued. If the offender has complied, there will be no charge.

Every visit to the site after that, in case the individual still does not comply with a bylaw, the fee of $150 may be applied.

In 2021 there were 352 bylaw violations and staff estimate that 60 per cent of the bylaw department's time is spent on field inspections.

“But this is just for non-compliance. If you have to go, if somebody gets an order that they got too much trash beside their house and they clean it up, there’s no bill. They’ve just, they cleaned it up, now the violation is gone,” Coun. Corey Woods said.

However, if on one hand, someone specifically does not adhere to bylaws over time and bylaw officers have to continually check to see if such a person is complying (wasting taxpayers money) then the fee will be applied.

“But if they are chronically doing it, you have to keep going out there. I do agree there should be some type of fee if you have to keep going out there,” Woods said.

This new municipal provision is meant to be discretionary. It does not automatically punish everyone who needs time to comply with bylaws.

“Now, with that said, I do like that it’s discretionary, you know, somebody’s reasonable and they just need a little bit of extra time, I don’t think they should be subject to a fee. But if there are chronic re-offenders maybe they should be subject to the fees,” Woods said.

The fear is that the discretionary clause will not work. As it will be a grey area, whether or not to apply a fee in any given situation.