The city is attempting to crack down on residents who keep derelict or inoperable vehicles on their property.
At its Monday meeting, city council gave first and second reading to a bylaw amendment that, if approved, would force residents to keep derelict vehicles in a fully enclosed building.
The city has defined a derelict vehicle as one that is: physically wrecked, dilapidated or substantially damaged; is not capable of operating under its own power; or is not validly registered and licensed in accordance with the Motor Vehicle Act.
That didn’t sit well with Coun. Charlie Cornfield who noted that there are several people in the community who keep older vehicles, that they are in the middle of restoring, in their driveways.
“In being a one-time car nut, and I know people around town that do restore vehicles, I guess it comes down to determining what is dilapidated or substantially damaged versus something that is restorable and you see some pretty rusted out things that get restored to the proper state,” Cornfield said.
City Clerk Peter Wipper said the bylaw wouldn’t ban someone from keeping such a vehicle but that it would have to be kept out of sight.
“If you’ve got a rusted out, beat up car that you plan on restoring, this bylaw suggests it would have to be kept indoors until it’s in a shape that’s presentable,” Wipper said. “We get a number of complaints for derelict vehicles throughout the city and this bylaw is, I guess, an attempt to address those complaints and those issues.”
Cornfield said he took issue with that.
“I have some concerns over that, I think that could prove to be onerous for people that have a vehicle that they’ve been working on and who is the judge of what is dilapidated or if it’s not registered at the time?” Cornfield wanted to know.
Wipper said when it comes to registration that would be pretty straightforward – it’s either registered or it’s not – and as for dilapidated, he said that would be “the call of the bylaw officer.”
Mayor Andy Adams suggested that since third reading and adoption of the bylaw is still potentially weeks away, that Cornfield in the meantime send his concerns to Wipper and his staff to take a look at.
Wipper said the bylaw can always change.
“We were coming across complaints that we weren’t able to sufficiently address but that’s not to say this bylaw won’t evolve in the future,” he said. “This is one step to deal with these potential issues that we’ve received complaints on.”
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