Cleaning up partially demolished properties could be too costly: City of Winnipeg report

A Winnipeg councillor says she's frustrated after a report considering how the city could clean up demolition sites that have sat unfinished for long periods of time said the costs could exceed what the city could hope to recover if it seized the property.

Daniel McIntyre Coun. Cindy Gilroy brought a motion forward in April asking that city crews clean up the properties and add the costs to the owner's property tax bill.

The report, which is on the agenda for the community services committee next Wednesday, says the city has the authority — under the Winnipeg building bylaw — to do exactly what Gilroy is asking.

If the owner doesn't pay the fees, they can added to the property tax bill, and if the owner doesn't pay that, the city can seize the property and sell it.

"If council wishes to enforce the remediation of these incomplete demolition sites, it must be done with the understanding that additional factors must be taken into consideration," report author Winston Yee wrote.

Those factors include "additional environmental related costs (i.e. asbestos), the presence of a basement excavation and foundation walls, and the volume and type of materials at each site," he wrote.

The costs of removing the debris and completing the remediation process, however, could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars and may add up to more than the property can fetch on the market.

"If the owner of the property fails to pay their property tax debt, the city can take steps to seize the property through the tax sale process," Yee wrote.

But "that does not mean the city will be able to recover the total cost spent cleaning and remediating a site given that total remediation costs can sometimes exceed the value of the property."

The report recommends that it be received as information, meaning it proposed no course of action.

Fund the cleanup: Gilroy

Regardless of what it might cost the city, Gilroy said the number of demolished and partially demolished buildings is growing, and the city needs to take action.

"We want to make sure that we clean up the debris and get that done, whatever means is necessary," Gilroy said in an interview.

"So the city has to find the funding in order to do that."

Gilroy pointed to an apartment building at 694 Sherbrook St. — which was torn down after a fire in February 2022 and has sat as a pile of rubble ever since — as an example in her own ward of demolition sites that are proliferating across the city.

The report points out that a reserve fund may need to be created to cover the potential costs of site cleanups. Gilroy wants the city to do that.

Send a message

Community services chair Coun. Evan Duncan says the city needs to send a message to property owners who fail to clean up the sites within an acceptable amount of time.

"If that takes ticketing, if that takes fines that go on to property taxes and if that ultimately takes seizure of that property, I think that we need to take those steps to ensure that … these sites aren't left there, as they're unsightly, they're hazardous and they're dangerous," he said in a phone interview.

Duncan believes the city has the power it needs to take action on cleaning up the sites, and while he says the city should be cautious about taking steps like seizing a property, some situations require it, despite the potential costs.

"Let's show [property owners] that we're serious. And I think that will resonate with a lot of people who are thinking that there's not much they can do about it. Well, let's prove them wrong," he said.

Gilroy hopes community services will recommend the property committee take up her motion.

Property and planning chair Coun. Sherri Rollins said the city is already taking steps to toughen enforcement on derelict properties, including expediting demolition permits and forcing owners to install security fences, lighting and cameras around problem buildings.

There are complex rules around the enforcement of derelict properties, and the report adds to that complexity, Rollins said in an interview.

Winnipeggers "can be assured that council has not forgotten about the issue, that we continue to work on it," she said.

"Is there an easy answer to what might have been an elegant solution that Coun. Gilroy was suggesting? Just put the bill on the property taxes? No, not necessarily."