Winnipeg councillors looking for ways to overcome financial hurdles to demolition cleanup

Winnipeg city councillors are trying to find ways to overcome the financial obstacles that have hindered efforts to clean up incomplete demolition sites that have proliferated in the city in recent years.

Daniel McIntyre Coun. Cindy Gilroy told the community services committee on Tuesday she wants the city to waive tipping fees at the city's Brady Road landfill for city-ordered demolitions.

"Let's get rid of those, because then the other costs are maybe a little bit more manageable … to deal with the matter," she told reporters after speaking as a delegation.

She also wants the city to create a $3-million reserve fund to help pay for the upfront costs of cleanup.

A recent report on cleaning up demolition debris says the city has the authority it needs under its bylaws to do so, but the costs of cleanup, which may exceed the value of the property, could be prohibitive.

The city's community services director, Cindy Fernandes, told the committee that although some aspects of dealing with derelict properties fall under the city's community liveability bylaw, the department lacks the resources to clean up the properties. She recommended the committee refer the matter to the property and development department.

Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood Coun. Evan Duncan, who chairs the community services committee, said he would discuss the issue with other members of the property committee, which he also sits on, ahead of its Wednesday meeting. 

Duncan said he agrees the city needs to find ways to overcome the financial obstacles.

"We'll definitely have to look at how we're going to pay for this, but that should not be a barrier to getting it done," he told reporters after the meeting.

The issue of demolition sites has been in the news recently as residents have called for cleanup following some significant fires in the city.

City of Winnipeg crews recently knocked down the walls of a Main Street business destroyed by fire in February, but the owner of the former Surplus Direct building has said the pile of rubble that sat for months will remain for the foreseeable future, due to his ongoing dispute with the province over the cleanup.

And following a massive fire that destroyed the former Vulcan Iron Works building in the Point Douglas neighbourhood in early July, Mayor Scott Gillingham said while he wanted to see the building's charred skeleton cleaned up as soon as possible, there was no timeline at that point on when that would happen.

At Tuesday's meeting, the community services committee also passed a motion from Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt, calling for a "burnt-out building emergency interdepartmental task force," led by Gillingham's inner circle on executive policy committee. 

The task force would be directed to immediately enforce city demolition orders, clean up the sites and apply costs to the owner's property tax bill. 

That proposal will be debated by EPC at its meeting later this month. 

Community services officials pointed out the city already has a "problem property" committee, made up of representatives from multiple city departments, which is dedicated to dealing with vacant and derelict buildings. 

Duncan said he supported Wyatt's proposal as a way to keep the issue moving forward, if the property committee declines to take up the matter on Wednesday.

"We can't tell Winnipeggers that it's too costly and that our city can continue to degrade by having piles of debris everywhere. That's just not an option," he said.

The committee also passed a motion to consolidate bylaw enforcement under one city department. Currently, three departments — community services, property and development, and water and waste — deal with various aspects of bylaw enforcement.

All motions require council approval.