At Monday night's virtual meeting of Elliot Lake City Council, Councillors looked at a report from City Clerk Natalie Bray which described a new yard cleanup bylaw that deals with the maintenance and care of yards to keep them clean and free from debris, garbage, long grass, abandoned appliances as detailed in the Property Maintenance section of the Ontario Municipal Act.
She said implementing the bylaw will relieve the need to type orders for every instance and eliminate the minimum three-week wait period that an order requires prior to action under the old Elliot Lake Property Standards Bylaw.
The new bylaw paves the way for fines against the owners or occupants after seven days of non-compliance. It will provide Bylaw Officers with the ability to deal with yard maintenance issues.
"I think the point that I tried to convey was that this is not to be, an overbearing bylaw; where they're going around looking for issues that don't necessarily exist," Councillor Norman Mann said.
"Clearly, the intention of this bylaw is those problematic areas that have been in the community. There have been examples in the past, unfortunately, and Bylaw has not had an ability to deal with it because of a very cumbersome process.
"This also streamlines that process. So someone goes on vacation for three or four weeks, and they have a very vibrant lawn. The intention is not to fine that person because they're away for a couple of weeks.
"And clearly, if it does get out of hand, we will hear about it. We would have to address it at that time. It becomes very problematic, but I don't believe it's going to be," concluded Mann.
Councillor Sandy Finamore said the Yard Cleanup Bylaw is long overdue.
"I think that we have a bylaw department that's progressive right now. If we send them out now and ask them to do enforcement, we tie their hands behind their back with the bylaws that we have," Finamore said.
"There's been several situations this past summer that were very frustrating for not only the people who live in Elliott Lake, but for the Bylaw Department that they weren't able to take action and resolve problems when we all know what the solution was. But there was nothing that was available to them in order to make the solution happen," Finamore added.
"I think that people need to be responsible, and landlords need to be responsible for their tenants as well. But this puts the person who's responsible, being responsible. And I think that's what we all want.
CAO Daniel Gagnon said the Yard Cleanup Bylaw gives Bylaw Officers the right to enter onto a property to investigate compliance.
"They don't need approval of the property owner to do so. It's either complaint- based or proactive if they're driving by," Ganon said.
A letter was received at Council from a property owner who asked for more clarification about what is meant by "weeds" in a yard and "excessive undergrowth."
"It's the individuals that will let everything grow to be a foot long and it's affecting the whole neighbourhood," Mayor Dan Marchisella said.
"We have people in this community that refuse to cut boulevards, that it's city property," Councillor Chris Patrie added. "Therefore the city should be cutting it. Well now you have a bylaw that's in place that enforceable."
The Yard Cleanup Bylaw passed council unanimously.