A ten-week backlog of by-law cases in Lakeshore has a town councillor looking for answers.
Linda McKinlay, councillor for Ward 6, didn’t realize just how long residents were waiting for complaints to be resolved.
“The resident calls me and yes I talk to the by-law enforcement officer, and three weeks later I’m still looking at the grass,” says McKinlay. “I was looking at 28 days [for a case to be resolved] and not getting too excited, but ten weeks? That’s a whole season.”
There aren’t any dedicated by-law enforcement officers in Lakeshore as four building inspectors assume the duties. Police officers also handle some by-law offences including noise and parking complaints.
“It’s taking too long because our by-law enforcers are too busy,” says McKinlay. “They’re way too busy.”
Director of Community and Development Services for the town, Steven Salmons, says the summer of 2016 has been the busiest in years and has kept the building inspectors from handling their by-law enforcement duties.
He says the inspectors are working at more than 100% capacity dealing with building permits and site inspections.
Salmons explains, under the legislation, once a builder requests an inspection the town has 48 hours to send out an inspector or else the builder is free to carry on — potentially covering up unsatisfactory work — leaving the town without recourse to change any potential problems. The same scenario plays out for permitting with a ten-day window for the town to work within.
“It’s a huge risk to the community for building inspectors to not meet those timelines,” says Salmons.
By-law complaints don’t have time limits governing when they need to be responded to under legislation.
Salmons says solutions are on the way and will be brought to council for consideration during budget talks.
“We’ll have to work on that. I want to hear something a lot more definite. I’m sorry, it’s time to hire,” says McKinlay, adding she may look to fast track the issue if possible.
Salmons feels there is a potential solution to the by-law backlog: hiring more temporary part-time staff for by-law enforcement.
He says 90% of complaints the town gets involve grass cutting, tall weeds and illegally parked vehicles — all problems a part-time temporary employee was able to handle this summer, clearing 90 complaints in eight weeks.
Salmons thinks growing that contingent may be enough to handle the stack of cases at Lakeshore town hall.
