The city is working with the property owner of 12620 No. 3 Road to clean it up but is getting some resistance.
“I’m not feeling as hopeful — he’s pushing back and trying to make us take legal action instead of being cooperative,” said Carli Williams, bylaws manager, at Tuesday’s community safety meeting.
However, a lot of work has been done, she added, with the house boarded up and a lot of debris removed.
Late last year, council was considering declaring the house a nuisance and ordering it demolished, but they gave the owner a reprieve until early February.
When enough wasn’t done by the deadline in February, the city took over the cleanup. It will be done at the expense of the owner, Michael Fairhurst.
Currently, the city is having discussions with the owner’s lawyer about access to the property, but Williams said they are trying to work it out.
If the city isn’t able to get onto the property by the end of March as planned, the next step would be to go through the courts, Williams said.
Coun. Linda McPhail called the situation a “challenging file” and enquired whether it would come back to council at any point for a decision. Williams explained if the city wanted to apply for an injunction in Supreme Court, it would come back to council for a decision.
