Owners of a derelict White Rock property have made some moves over the past month to clean it up.
And that, city officials say, is enough to put demolition plans for 1029/1037 Stevens St. that were scheduled for this week on hold.
“The owner has done some work, finally,” city manager Dan Bottrill said Monday. “They’ve taken a lot of garbage off of the property. We need to determine whether or not it’s still a hazard.”
Council gave unanimous support April 2 to enforcing a cleanup of the site, following numerous complaints that the property was attracting rodents, garbage and transients.
Neighbours Geoff Giffin and Senga Fullam began to actively push for the city to move on the problem late last year, after years of “quietly” waiting produced little results.
And while they were “guardedly optimistic” things would change after Mayor Wayne Baldwin’s April 2 declaration – which gave the owners 30 days to act or the city would “take the sucker down” – Giffin said Friday not enough has been done, but that he’s not surprised by the lack of progress.
“People that I have spoken with that understand how municipalities work said it’s not going to happen,” he said. “I think it should be increasingly embarrassing to the city that it seems so powerless to get this done.”
The city has fielded complaints about the property since 1998. Fines levied against the owners – identified by the city as Taiwan residents Chi T. Tsang and Chen-Hung Tsang – for violation of the city’s unsightly premises bylaw date back to 2010.
While a May 2 email to Giffin from the city states the city’s lawyers advised against taking the threatened remedial action, Bottrill said legal issues were not the only consideration in deciding to delay the demolition.
“It’s a serious issue to go and enter someone’s property to demolish it,” he said. “It’s far better for the city to work with our property owners.”
Giffin planned to question the lack of action at Monday night’s council meeting, after Peace Arch News’ deadline.